LONDON: Amid growing concern over China’s covert intelligence gathering and surveillance activities around the world, it has been reported that Chinese Communist PartyLoyalists (CCP) have been working in British consulates, universities and some of the major UK Business.
An extraordinary leaked database of 1.95 million registered CCP members reveals how Beijing’s “evil influence” now spreads to almost every corner of British life, including defense companies, banks and pharmaceutical giants reported the Daily Mail.
Most alarming is that some of its members, who take a solemn oath to ‘keep the Party’s secrets, be loyal to the Party, work hard, fight for communism throughout my life … and never betray the Party’ , are believed to have secured jobs at British consulates.
Among them is a senior official from the British Consulate in Shanghai. The official describes his role in supporting ministers and officials on visits to eastern China.
The database was originally said to have been leaked on Telegram, the encrypted instant messaging app. It was then approved in September by a Chinese dissident from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, which comprises more than 150 lawmakers from around the world who are concerned about the Chinese government’s influence and activities.
According to the report, a detailed analysis of the material by The Mail on Sunday reveals that pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and AstraZeneca, both involved in the development of coronavirus vaccines, employed a total of 123 party loyalists.
The analysis also revealed that there were more than 600 party members in 19 branches working at British banks HSBC and Standard Chartered in 2016.
While there is no evidence that anyone on the party’s roster spied for China, and many sign up simply to improve their career prospects, experts say it defies credulity that some are not involved in espionage.
Responding to the findings, an alliance of 30 Deputies He said last night that they would present an urgent question on the subject in the Commons.
China has increased its espionage activities in recent years. He has even been accused of political interference in Australia.
Recently, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged US universities to scrutinize China’s attendance and students, warning that Beijing was determined to steal innovation.
The outgoing top US diplomat delivered the speech during a visit to Georgia, a state with a growing Asian-American community and which next month holds two second-round elections that will determine which party controls the US Senate.
Writing today in The Mail on Sunday, former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith said: “This research shows that members of the Chinese Communist Party are now scattered around the world, with members working for some of the largest multinational corporations in the world. world, academic institutions and our own diplomatic services. ”
“The government must now act to expel and remove any member of the Communist Party from our consuls across China. They can serve the UK or the Chinese Communist Party. They cannot do both,” Smith said.
The Foreign Ministry insisted last night that it has “robust procedures to keep information secure and to screen personnel at our posts abroad.” It is understood that they know that they employ party members.
However, a top Whitehall intelligence source said the revelations raised security questions. “At that station [the official] He will be sitting on a floor of the MI6 team and could have identified the intelligence officers. ”
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