.’s internal intelligence service United kingdomMI5 has warned lawmakers that an alleged Chinese agent has “carried out political interference activities” in Parliament, Westminster officials said Thursday.
The office of the Speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle, confirmed it had sent an email to lawmakers to inform them of the issue.
“The House Speaker takes the security of Representatives and the democratic process very seriously, and has issued this notice in consultation with the security services,” a spokeswoman for Howell said.
The Chinese embassy in London denied the allegations and said it had never needed or sought to “buy influence in any foreign parliament”.
“We are firmly opposed to the defamation and intimidation hoax of the Chinese community in the world,” he added United kingdom“, Criticize.
The letter identified the suspect as Kristen Lee, saying that she “carried out political interference activities on behalf of the Ministry of Labor of the United Front of the Communist Party of China,” a body that seeks to maintain contact with non-partisan figures or groups.
The London-based lawyer has reportedly donated £200,000 ($275,000 or €239,000) to Labor MP Barry Gardiner and hundreds of thousands to his party.
Former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May – whose party has been accused of receiving millions of pounds from Russian donors – awarded me an award in 2019 in recognition of his contribution to relations between Russia and Russia. China it’s the United kingdom.
Lee was also pictured with May’s predecessor, Conservative David Cameron, at an event in 2015, and separately with former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn.
“This facilitated making financial donations to serve representatives and aspirants on behalf of foreigners residing in Hong Kong and ChinaAccording to Hoyle’s letter, “this was done in secret to conceal the source of the payments.”
After MI5 warned about Lee’s activities, former conservative leader Ian Duncan Smith, a fierce critic of Beijing, called for strong action.
last year , China Sanctions were imposed on 10 people and organizations in United kingdom, including Duncan Smith, for what he called the spread of “lies and disinformation” about human rights abuses in Xinjiang (northwest) China).
She told me she was not detained or deported, but that she was denied entry to Parliament.
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