Has China been operating the British Government in absentia for years?

Has China been operating the British Government in absentia for years?

June 29, 2022

HONG KONG (AP) — When the British handed Hong Kong to Beijing in 1997, it was promised 50 years of self-government and freedoms of assembly, speech and press that are not allowed on the Communist-ruled Chinese mainland.

As the city of 7.4 million people marks 25 years under Beijing’s rule on Friday, those promises are wearing thin. Hong Kong’s honeymoon period, when it carried on much as it always had, has passed, and its future remains uncertain, determined by forces beyond its control.

Before the handover, many in Hong Kong worried that life would change when Beijing took over. Thousands rushed to obtain residency elsewhere and some moved abroad. For the first decade or so, such measures looked overly dramatic – this bustling bastion of capitalism on China’s southern coast appeared to keep its freedoms, and the economy was booming.

In recent years, Beijing has been expanding its influence and control. Those moves appeared to be hastened by mass pro-democracy protests in 2014 and 2019. Now, schools must provide lessons on patriotism and national security, and some new textbooks deny Hong Kong was ever a British colony.

Electoral reforms have ensured that no opposition lawmakers, only those deemed to be “patriots” by Beijing, are in the city’s legislature, muting once lively debates over how to run the city. China has installed John Lee, a career security official, as the successor to Chief Executive Carrie Lam.

Hong Kong also has banned annual protests marking China’s June 4, 1989, crackdown on the pro-democracy movement centered on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, with authorities citing pandemic precautions. The city’s tourism and businesses are reeling from its adherence to stringent COVID-zero policies enforced on the mainland.

Alex Siu, a building services engineer, was born in Hong Kong and only left in 2020 — his parents had ensured he’d have the option by getting him a British National Overseas passport years earlier.

Siu moved to Manchester, England, with his girlfriend after getting fed up both with Hong Kong’s work environment and the political situation. He’s homesick for the food, friends and family, but isn’t planning to go back.

“I believe there is no hope because the government holds absolute power,” Siu said of the deteriorating political freedoms in Hong Kong. “Us little citizens, we don’t have much power to oppose them or change the situation.”

Kurt Tong, former U.S. consul general to Hong Kong and managing partner of consultancy The Asia Group, said the changes reflect growing dissatisfaction in Beijing with the freewheeling semi-autonomous region. The consternation deepened when some of the millions of Hong Kong residents who marched in peaceful pro-democracy protests in 2019 stormed the city’s legislative complex and at times violently clashed with police.

“The things that China found irritating about Hong Kong started to become more prominent, and the things that it found attractive about Hong Kong started to be less prominent, and friction built up over time,” he said.

Beginning in 2020, the authorities launched a crackdown on political dissent, arresting dozens of activists and imprisoning them for unauthorized assembly, despite provisions guaranteeing freedom for such gatherings under Hong Kong’s Basic Law, the city’s constitution.

John Burns, an honorary professor of politics and public administration at the University of Hong Kong, was skeptical that Beijing would ever allow Hong Kong full democracy or universal suffrage, goals enshrined in the Basic Law at the time of the 1997 handover.

“Hong Kong was going to become part of a local government of an authoritarian country ruled by a Leninist party. How could it be a Western-style parliamentary democracy?” Burns said in an interview.

The authorities cracked down and moved to stamp out dissent to help restore stability after the months long 2019 protests, he noted.

“But this is a brittle stability based on the imposition of the law and the arrest of pan-democratic leaders and jailing them, chasing them out,” he said, and many in Hong Kong still support the pro-democracy movement even if they are silent for now.

“We’re in a kind of hellish place. Hong Kong is not part of the system and therefore it can’t bargain that way, (but at the same time) we are not free. We are in this hybrid middle ground,” Burns added. “The party has never had to rule a place like Hong Kong, so it’s learning to as it goes.”

Former Democratic Party chairwoman and ex-lawmaker Emily Lau says she is disappointed with the changes but not surprised. “When you deal with a communist regime, you shouldn’t be expecting anything. Nothing should surprise you,” Lau said.

She’s focused on Hong Kong’s future. The city remains distinct from the mainland, she said. Her friends and colleagues may be imprisoned, but she can visit them and they can choose their own lawyers — rights usually denied political prisoners in China.

“I know it’s very difficult. But I think we owe it to ourselves and to future generations to do the best we can to fight for our core values, which are human rights, democracy, rule of law and personal safety, and social justice,” she said.

Chan Po-ying, 66, whose longtime partner and fellow pro-democracy activist Leung Kwok-hung — better known by his nickname “Long Hair,” is serving a nearly 2-year prison sentence and awaiting a hearing on national security related charges, says she is pressing on.

“I have persevered for a long period of time, I believe that I should not give up so easily, especially during this difficult time,” Chan said “The government and the law have granted these rights to us (under the Basic Law).”

In May, during an election for Hong Kong’s new chief executive, Chan and several others held a small protest to demand universal suffrage. On June 4 this year, the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Chan together with two others, stood on a street in silent protest, dressed in black and wearing white face masks with black “x’s” taped across them.

However, with security tight ahead of Friday’s ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the handover, Chan put out a message to Hong Kong media saying she and her group would not stage a protest.

After being summoned for a “chat” by state security police, they decided “on that day, we cannot conduct any sort of protest activity,” she said. 

Here is Chinese intelligence activity in the UK over the last few decades, including:

• 2007 Warning: MI5 sent letters to 300 chief executives and security chiefs at banks, law firms, and accountants, warning of attacks from Chinese "state organisations," including the use of custom Trojan software to steal data.
• Long-term Intelligence Activity: While focusing on 2021–2023, the documents highlight that Chinese intelligence services have long been considered "highly capable" and engaged in "large-scale espionage operations" against the UK to advance state interests.
• Influence Operations: The case of Christine Lee, named by MI5 in 2022 as an agent of influence infiltrating Parliament, suggests a long-term strategy of targeting politicians and key figures. 

The 1990s was a period of transition in UK-China relations following the 1997 handover of Hong Kong, but detailed, publicly disclosed espionage cases from that specific decade are still being kept quiet.

Reports from UK intelligence, security committees, and parliamentary bodies indicate that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has engaged in widespread, sophisticated, and aggressive efforts to influence, infiltrate, and conduct espionage within the United Kingdom's government, parliament, and key economic sectors. While China does not "operate" the British government in a direct, puppet-regime sense, the scale of interference has led officials to define China as a "systemic challenge" to national security. 

Key findings regarding Chinese influence and activity in the UK include:

• Infiltration of Sectors: A 2023 Intelligence and Security Committee report concluded that Beijing has infiltrated every sector of the UK economy.
• Targeting Parliament: Intelligence officials (MI5) have warned that Chinese actors engage in "prolific and aggressive" efforts to target MPs, parliamentary researchers, and democratic institutions, often using social media platforms like LinkedIn for recruitment.
• Influence Operations: "The United Front Work Department" (UFWD), an arm of the CCP, is active in the UK, aiming to align the interests of non-Communists with the Party and cultivate influence among British politicians.
• Espionage Accusations: There have been multiple arrests of individuals suspected of spying for China, including a parliamentary researcher.
• Economic Interdependence: Despite concerns, the UK has historically engaged in a "golden era" of trade with China, leading to significant investments in critical infrastructure, including nuclear power (Sizewell C) and telecommunications.
• "Mega-Embassy" Concerns: Plans for a new, large Chinese embassy in London, near the Tower of London, have raised security concerns, with fears it could be used as a hub for espionage and monitoring the Chinese diaspora.
• Policy Response: The UK government has taken steps to counter these activities, including the National Security and Investment Act 2021, which allows for the blocking of foreign takeovers of critical assets, and a 2024–2025 "China audit" to reassess the bilateral relationship. 

Reports that the UK is "trapped" by Chinese influence and is attempting to balancesecurity risks of espionage with the necessity of economic engagement.