Two men jailed in UK for spying for China

Two men have been jailed in London for what police described as a “shadow policing operation” targeting Hong Kong pro-democracy activists in Britain on behalf of Hong Kong authorities and, by extension, the Chinese state.

Chi Leung “Peter” Wai, a UK Border Force officer, was sentenced Thursday at the Old Bailey to 10 years in prison. Chung Biu “Bill” Yuen, a former Hong Kong police officer who later worked as office manager of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, was given an eight-year term.

Both men were found guilty last month of assisting a foreign intelligence service under the National Security Act. Wai was also convicted of misconduct in public office for using his access to Home Office computer systems to search for information about people from Hong Kong living in the UK.

“The United Kingdom now faces persistent, adaptive, and often clandestine interference by foreign state actors and those acting on their behalf,” Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb told the court, according to Al Jazeera. The BBC reported that the judge said the men’s actions “threaten the sovereignty of the state.”

The case centered on surveillance and information-gathering directed at prominent pro-democracy campaigners who had moved to the UK after crackdowns in Hong Kong. Detectives said the operation was conducted for Hong Kong authorities and “by extension, the Chinese state.”

Wai had worked as a Border Force officer at Heathrow Airport since December 2020. He previously served in the Royal Navy, worked for the Metropolitan Police from 2015 to 2019 and later became a volunteer constable with the City of London Police. The court heard that after he began work at Heathrow, he messaged Eddie Ma, a former chief superintendent in the Hong Kong Police Criminal Intelligence Bureau who still had links to the Chinese state, writing: “Will not let any cockroaches in.”

Yuen became Wai’s contact with Chinese authorities, the BBC reported. During the trial, the court heard that “special attention” was paid to British politicians, including Conservative MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith.

In 2023, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu placed bounties of HK$1 million, about £100,000, on some pro-democracy campaigners. Among the activists watching the sentencing from the public gallery was one person subject to such a bounty.

The court also heard that Wai drew another Border Force officer, former Royal Marine Matthew Trickett, into surveillance work. In November 2023, Trickett was tasked by Wai with arranging for high-profile Hong Kong activist Nathan Law to be followed while he was speaking at the Oxford Union. Law was one of those facing a HK$1 million bounty. Trickett was later found dead in a suspected suicide after the men were caught by counter-terrorism police; an inquest is due in November.

Wai received six years for assisting a foreign intelligence service and four additional years for misconduct in public office. Al Jazeera reported that the men, described as dual Chinese-British nationals, are believed to be the first people convicted of spying for China in Britain. Both had denied the allegations. The Chinese embassy in London called the case “nothing but a political move of abusing the law,” Al Jazeera reported.

Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said the investigation showed such activity would not be tolerated. “I want to be really clear that if you are working on behalf of a foreign state, that we in counter-terrorism policing and with our partners will identify who you are and bring the full force of the National Security Act upon you,” she said.

Bethan David, head of the Counter Terrorism Division at the Crown Prosecution Service, said the conduct was “deliberate, coordinated and carried out with full knowledge of who it would benefit.” She added: “These convictions send a clear message that transnational repression, foreign interference, unauthorised surveillance, and attempts to operate outside the law will not be tolerated on British soil.”

The jury could not agree on a separate foreign interference charge against both men relating to the forced entry into the Pontefract, West Yorkshire, home of Monica Kwong, a former Hong Kong resident described by the BBC as an alleged fraud suspect originally from Hong Kong.