UK leader Sunak chides China after report a UK Parliament staffer is a suspected Beijing spy

LONDON : Prime Minister Rishi Sunak chastised China’s premier on Sunday for"unacceptable” interference in British democracy, after a newspaper reported that a researcher in Parliament was arrested earlier this year on suspicion of spying for Beijing.

The Sunday Times reported that the younger man was a parliamentary researcher who worked with senior lawmakers from the governing Conservatives, including Alicia Kearns, who now heads the powerful Foreign Affairs Committee, and her predecessor in that role, Tom Tugendhat, who is now security minister.

Britain’s Conservatives are divided on how tough a line to take with Beijing and on how much access Chinese firms should have to the U.K. economy. More hawkish Tories want Beijing declared a threat, but Sunak has referred to China’s growing power as a"challenge.” In January 2022, MI5 issued a rare public alert, saying a London-based lawyer was trying to"covertly interfere in U.K. politics” on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party. It alleged attorney Christine Lee was acting in coordination with the Chinese ruling party’s United Front Work Department, an organization known to exert Chinese influence abroad.

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