Two people linked to a Chinese intelligence operation targeting MPs on LinkedIn are connected to senior officials within the Home Office, Foreign Office and Nato, The i Paper can reveal.
MI5 has issued an espionage alert to MPs and peers in the House of Lords warning that Chinese intelligence services were “relentless” in trying to “interfere” and “influence” Parliament.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle and his counterpart in the House of Lords, Lord McFall, circulated the “espionage alert” to MPs claiming that the Chinese Ministry of State Security was “actively reaching out to individuals in our community”.
The alert said Chinese spies were using “false personas”, posing as headhunters and connecting with individuals in Parliament to “collect information and lay the groundwork for long-term relationships”.
MI5 named the accounts of Amanda Qiu, from BR-YR Executive Search, and Shirly Shen, who describes herself as the co-founder of Internship Union.
