Interference
- political influence operations".[1] On 16 July 2020, the Foreign Secretary announced that HMG was "almost certain that Russian actors sought to interfere in the 2019 general election through the online amplification of illicitly acquired and leaked Government documents". [2]
- The reputational risks of interfering in the democratic processes of others are significant. The UK Intelligence Community believe that these risks ***.[3] ***.[4] *** there is precedent for China seeking to influence democratic processes overseas[5] and ***.[6] Work to map foreign interference from Russia and China is ***.[7]
Media
- Chinese interference in UK media has many facets—from the use of the UK media for the publication of Chinese content, to the expansion in the number of Chinese media outlets and journalists in the UK. (The use of journalist cover by ChIS officers for espionage operations is dealt with later in this Report.)
- The Chinese government looks to use the UK’s own media to its advantage. The Telegraph was reportedly paid £750,000 p.a. to carry the China Daily newspaper supplement (effectively a CCP mouthpiece), and it has been noted that since 2016 The Telegraph has carried twice the number of signed articles by the Chinese ambassador to the UK than the Daily Mail, The Guardian and the Financial Times put together.[8] In April 2020, content from the China Daily disappeared from The Telegraph website: when Buzzfeed and The Guardian asked The Telegraph to comment on its removal, The Telegraph refused to do so.[9] When we asked the JIC Chair whether he was concerned that the China Daily supplement was widely available in the UK, he told us that he was not convinced that it posed a significant threat:
The Chinese state, and individuals within it, are under quite a lot of pressure to show that they are doing things to advance the historical inevitability of the rise of China, and it is important that they can do things and report them, and they will report them as a great success. They will say that Daily Telegraph readers, a newspaper which is read by influential people in the United Kingdom, is now getting Chinese input. We might see it as being rather different but I am sure that is how they will be reporting it to Beijing and Beijing may well consider it money well spent.[10]
- ↑ Russia, HC 632, 21 July 2020
- ↑ HC Deb, 16 July 2020, HCWS384.
- ↑ Written evidence—JSTAT, 31 May 2019.
- ↑ Written evidence—JIO, 21 March 2021.
- ↑ We note, for instance, the allegations of Chinese interference in US and Canadian elections. ('Directors Remarks to Business Leaders in London', www.fbi.gov, 6 July 2022; 'Trudeau accuses China of 'aggressive' election interference', BBC News, 8 November 2022.)
- ↑ Written evidence—HMG, 21 January 2020.
- ↑ Written evidence—HMG, 21 January 2020.
- ↑ Charles Parton, 'China–UK Relations: Where to Draw the Border Between Influence and Interference', Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), 20 February 2019.
- ↑ 'A British Newspaper has given Chinese coronavirus propaganda a direct line to the UK', Buzzfeed, 1 April 2020; 'Daily Telegraph stops publishing section paid for by China', The Guardian, 14 April 2020.
- ↑ Oral evidence—JIO, *** October 2020.
