Recently, the UK has revealed that China, Russia, and Iran are the hidden hands behind the increasing number of attacks and kidnappings within the UK, labeling these three countries as “hostile states.” Experts believe that the severity of the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) far exceeds that of Russia and Iran. Before the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Europe, the UK is issuing this warning to Europe and Western countries to be aware of the threat posed by the CCP. It is expected that more incidents and evidence of the CCP’s threat will be revealed in the future.
According to reports from Reuters and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), two senior British counterterrorism officers revealed on July 15 that hostile states are increasingly using proxies to carry out destructive and targeted violent activities in the UK. Investigations into such activities currently account for about 20% of their workload.
“These actions’ breadth, complexity, and scale continue to grow. The speed at which they are progressing, I am unsure whether we, our international partners, or any intelligence agency predicted,” said Dominic Murphy, head of the Counter Terrorism Command at the London Metropolitan Police, at a press conference. “We are increasingly seeing these three countries… carrying out actions in the UK that threaten lives.”
Vicki Evans, Senior National Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism Policing in the UK, stated that in most cases, proxies are usually habitual offenders who carry out tasks for these countries in exchange for a small amount of cash. However, there are also teenagers being encouraged or coerced to engage in money-making activities online without realizing the consequences of their actions.
They warned that teenagers, as well as petty criminals and the disaffected, are more easily recruited by Russia, Iran, and the Chinese Communist Party.
In recent years, the UK has expressed concerns multiple times about the malicious activities of China, Russia, and Iran in the UK. These activities include not only traditional espionage and acts of sabotage but also deliberate acts of sabotage and assassination attempts. Beijing, Moscow, and Tehran have all denied these allegations.
Currently, the London Metropolitan Police is dedicating more resources to combat activities by hostile states, providing officers with training on “foreign interference,” with several hundred people participating in recent response exercises.
“We are collaborating with leaders of local police departments across the country to raise public awareness and ensure that people truly deepen their understanding of this threat,” said Ms. Evans.
She believes that hostile states using criminal proxies can allow them to “keep at arm’s length.” She criticized this as “a continuing erosion of the rule-based international order.”
This is the first time that British counterterrorism police have issued a warning about hostile states using proxies to carry out attacks and kidnappings within the UK.
Ms. Evans stated, “Foreign regimes are more willing than ever to take aggressive actions overseas.”
Former UK Security Minister and former chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Tugendhat, was asked about the threat posed by the CCP during his visit to Taiwan in January. He stated that the threat from Russia or Iran pales in comparison to the threat posed by the CCP in scale.
He remarked that he sees the CCP harassing Taiwan on a daily basis, and the UK also faces various attacks from the CCP, including the establishment of overseas police stations in the UK.
Tugendhat at the time said, “The fact is, while Russia has indeed tried and in some cases succeeded in carrying out assassination operations in the UK, and Iran has also attempted to cause serious harm to individuals within the UK, including assassination attempts, what we see with Chinese (CCP) attacks is quite staggering in scale. How far-reaching is it? In everyday life in the UK, is there any area that people are unaware has been infiltrated by China (CCP)? In many respects, this goes beyond routine. For example, we have seen the electoral commission become a target for actors from China.”
The UK’s MI5 intelligence agency issued a warning as early as October 2023, stating that the widespread espionage activities of the CCP in the UK pose a significant threat to the country’s economy and national security.
Cheng Qinmo, Associate Professor of Diplomacy at Tamkang University, told Epoch Times that attacks by Russia and Iran primarily target individuals, such as the poisoning of former KGB agents and double agents by Russia in 2006 and 2017 who defected to the UK. Iran’s attacks also primarily target dissidents of its regime.
“However, the infiltration by the CCP has essentially reached the level of subversion,” Cheng said.
He cited examples of the CCP using hacker networks to attack the UK’s infrastructure, leveraging Confucius Institutes and social media platforms like TikTok for cultural infiltration, using Chinese students as spies, treating Chinese tourists as strategic chips, manipulating UK political parties and elections, and more — all of which “could cause serious harm to UK’s national security.”
Ye Yaoyuan, Visiting Professor of International Studies at St. Thomas University in the United States, told Epoch Times that the CCP’s espionage infiltration actions against Western countries not only aim to steal advanced technology but also to threaten and entice overseas Chinese to help the CCP. Additionally, the CCP’s significant objective is to infiltrate Western governments and officials.
Ye stated that while the CCP seeks to obtain classified information from these countries, on the other hand, it wants to catch Western government officials with “small handles” and then use these as “chips” to pressure these officials into making policies that may be more favorable to the CCP, less favorable to Taiwan, or detrimental to the entire democratic process.
Cheng Qinmo noted that as the 50th anniversary of China-EU diplomatic relations is approaching with a summit planned for July 24 in Beijing, the UK’s release of this information at this time aims to remind EU leaders of the seriousness of the threat posed by the CCP.
He said, “The CCP’s threat is not only in the UK but worldwide. We have seen many cases in Australia, Canada, Belgium, Germany, and France, so this is not an isolated incident.” “All these behaviors demonstrate the threat of the CCP to the national security of various European countries.”
During this time, the CCP has been making some “friendly” gestures towards Europe, such as in late April of this year when Beijing announced the lifting of sanctions it imposed in 2021 on the European Parliament’s Human Rights Subcommittee and five MEPs.
On July 15, the European Parliament confirmed that Reinhard Bütikofer, a former MEP, current chairman of the “German-Taiwan Civil Forum,” prominent German pro-Taiwan political figure, and 72 years old, had been removed from the “sanctions list” by the CCP.
According to Agence France-Presse, Bütikofer criticized the CCP’s “arbitrary and frivolous sanctions in 2021,” which led to “ridiculous and embarrassing situations” for himself.
The European Parliament responded more mildly, stating that it will continue to maintain “dialogue and ongoing contact” with Beijing.
Cheng Qinmo said, “During this period of intensive interactions between China and Europe,” the UK’s specific warning aims to caution European leaders not to compromise European national security for economic benefits when engaging with the CCP.
Ye Yaoyuan believes that various Western countries are conducting investigations into the CCP’s “long-arm” security sabotage in other countries, and the UK’s investigation this time may reveal some preliminary results.
“We can expect that in the coming period, possibly within two years, various European countries will gradually reveal such information,” Ye said. “We will see more examples proving the destruction caused by this authoritarian country, this group (the CCP) in Western democratic countries.”