ANDREW NEIL: China is not invincible or unstoppable but until we stand up to it Beijing will be right to see us as a paper tiger

The announcement of the arrest of a parliamentary researcher in Westminster on suspicion of spying for China should come as no surprise to anyone.

Only two months ago, Parliament’s well-informed Intelligence and Security Committee reported that China had been targeting Britain “prolifically and aggressively” for some time.

The suspect denies being a spy and, of course, should be considered innocent until proven guilty (this is our way of doing things, if not China’s).

But even if it turns out he was falsely accused, there are many others doing their bit for China across large swaths of British society, not just in Parliament and government, but also in business, the academia, the media and even local government.

The objectives are always the same: to dissuade important institutions and influential people in Britain from criticizing China; intimidating those who are not easily deterred so that they can then fall into line out of fear; and threaten violence or worse any anti-Chinese communist dissent within our own extremely prosperous and patriotic Chinese community.

Britain is not China’s only target, either. All of our key allies are experiencing the same unwanted attention. China knows what it is doing by targeting Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. Together, they form the “Five Eyes”: the most sophisticated intelligence gathering and sharing alliance in the world. Enter their systems and the world is your oyster.

China has been active in the parliaments of Australia and New Zealand. The head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization has revealed a “Chinese plot” to get sympathetic candidates elected to Parliament as Labor MPs. His Kiwi counterpart spoke of China’s “increasing aggression” and its “significant interference” in New Zealand politics.

Its MPs are subjected to a constant barrage of Chinese propaganda. China’s ambassador to Wellington, in his sixth letter to New Zealand lawmakers this year, was more direct than ever in reminding them how dependent the Kiwi economy is on China: 25 percent of its exports go there. destined and most of its tourists are Chinese.

Canada is investigating Chinese interference in its 2019 and 2021 elections, so much so that China is believed to have been instrumental in the overthrow of a Canadian Conservative MP, Kenny Chiu, who had emigrated from Hong Kong .

Beijing is obsessed with suppressing dissent among ethnic Chinese living in democracies and has no qualms about intimidating human rights activists and dissidents in the West.

The FBI recently discovered that China was running a secret police station in New York whose main purpose was to spy on the city’s Chinese population.

Chinese police are not only present in Manhattan. They are everywhere. We know this thanks to the courageous members of the Spanish human rights group Safeguard Defenders, who last year revealed that there were more than 100 Chinese secret police stations on five continents, including London, Glasgow, Belfast and Dublin, as well as in most countries. Europe, whose primary goal was to silence criticism of China. It is important to understand what is happening here.

“What we’re seeing in China are increasing attempts to suppress dissent around the world, to threaten people, to harass them, to make sure they’re scared enough to stay silent or “They risk being returned to China against their will,” Safeguard Defenders told CNN.

“It will start with phone calls. They might start intimidating your loved ones in China, threatening you, doing anything to convince targets abroad to return. If that doesn’t work, they’ll call in secret agents abroad. They will send them from Beijing and use methods such as luring and trapping.

The alleged Chinese spy at Westminster denies being a spy and, of course, must be considered innocent until proven guilty (that’s our way of doing things, if not China’s).

China believes it has the right to enforce this because under Chinese law its citizens are subject to Communist Party law wherever they live.

Beijing euphemistically calls this “persuading return” and believes it is legitimate because democracies will not, by and large, extradite people to dictatorships like China. Indeed, the European Court of Human Rights has effectively prohibited its member states (including Britain) from extraditing anyone within its jurisdiction to China. Hence the term “persuasion”.

China believes it has the right to enforce this because under Chinese law its citizens are subject to Communist Party law wherever they live. And China’s national intelligence law requires its citizens and businesses to help Beijing’s spies whenever asked — and to keep that assistance secret.

Ethnic Chinese are not the only ones targeted. A prominent Belgian politician, Samuel Cogolati, decided to draft a resolution for the Belgian Parliament condemning China’s “crimes against humanity”, referring to the genocidal treatment of Uyghur Muslims.

Its email system was immediately attacked by Beijing-sponsored hackers. When Belgian MPs scheduled hearings on the Uyghurs in May 2021, Parliament was shut down by a massive cyber offensive. The Australian parliament was similarly attacked.

Given all this – and much more – it is inconceivable that UK ministers are still debating whether China should be designated a “threat” rather than just a “systemic competitor”. How much more evidence do they need?

Or maybe it doesn’t boggle the mind. Former senior Foreign Office official Simon (now, inevitably, Lord) McDonald said this week, in response to the alleged spy’s arrest, that it was a “legitimate objective” for China to want to find out what was happening in China. Westminster. We cannot have “one rule for the United States, France and Germany and another for China,” he added.

It’s been a long time since I’ve heard such blatant nonsense, even from a foreign ministry mandarin. Of course, we should have different rules for close allies, with whom we share intelligence, and for aggressive totalitarian states that try to steal our secrets. The idea that we should be “consistent” in this regard is stupidity on stilts.

But I fear this is all too common within our ruling establishment. McDonald may have left FO, but his attitudes remain there, as evidenced by Foreign Minister James Cleverly’s milk-and-water approach to China.

Former senior Foreign Office official Simon (now, inevitably, Lord) McDonald (pictured) said this week, in response to the alleged spy’s arrest, that it was a ‘legitimate aim’ for China to want to find out what was going on. took place in Westminster

It’s time to take China seriously. She was only emboldened by our feeble response to her depredations. We did next to nothing when thugs from the Chinese consulate in Manchester dragged a peaceful Hong Kong protester into the consular compound and beat him up.

We know, using the sinister United Front Work Department, a vehicle for influence and infiltration of the Chinese Communist Party, that Beijing is hunting ethnic Chinese sympathizers for political office and actively recruiting former MPs, soldiers and civil servants for lucrative positions in China. businesses. The government needs to be much tougher in holding those who take the Chinese shilling to account.

MI5 chief says China poses ‘the most revolutionary strategic challenge facing Britain’. Its aim is to undermine democracies like Britain in order to make the world safer for autocracy. As befits the Middle Kingdom, the oldest civilization in the world, this is a long-term project. We must be too.

For starters, China must be placed in the “enhanced tier” of the foreign influence registration system, which requires rigorous checks of all organizations with ties to China, including businesses and universities. Failure to register such links constitutes a criminal offense punishable by up to five years in prison. This will help us control China’s nefarious activities.

We must be clear about what we are facing. China is a totalitarian state with a massive annual military budget that it uses to create armed forces strong enough to dominate the Asia-Pacific region. Yet for all he spends on defense, he spends even more on surveillance and repression of his own people. We cannot allow this to happen on our own sovereign territory.

China is neither invincible nor invincible, despite the many commentators who describe it as such. Its economy is faltering, its debt is the highest the world has ever known, its currency is collapsing like a stone, as is its population. Its ability to attract foreign investment has collapsed and its young people are now experiencing mass unemployment.

Our opponent is not 10 feet tall. But unless we resist it at home, we will be right to continue to think of ourselves as a paper tiger.