How I got to know Westminster’s ‘Chinese agent’

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Cindy Yu has narrated this article for you to listen to.

On Monday, I was surprised to discover a photo of myself in the papers next to a parliamentary researcher who had been arrested on suspicion of being a ‘Chinese agent’. The photo was taken in February at a panel in parliament entitled ‘Defeating the dictators’. The man and I are both twentysomething China watchers who work in Westminster. I’d got to know him in a professional capacity, but every so often, we had a drink together or hung out at a friend’s flat. It was only when I saw reports of his arrest that I realised I hadn’t heard from him since an evening six months ago when we teamed up to play Codenames, the board game in which rival spymasters race to rendezvous with their agents. We smashed the other team.

‘Everybody can be recruited in the right circumstances. It’s about asking the right questions at the right time’

According to reports, he and a second man in his thirties were arrested in March. He has not yet been charged and has protested his innocence. ‘Given what has been reported, it is vital that it is known that I am completely innocent. I have spent my career to date trying to educate others about the challenge and threats presented by the Chinese Communist party,’ he said in a statement. The accusations are that he used his influence to soften criticism of China, while discrediting others. It was reported that sensitive (but not classified) material had been exchanged. I couldn’t believe what I was reading.

It’s true that if he had been working as a Chinese asset, he could have been useful, given the access he had. He was linked to senior Tories such as Tom Tugendhat, now the security minister, and the chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Alicia Kearns.