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China's secret service agents used a far-right Belgian politician for 3 years to strengthen influence in European politics.
This case shows how Beijing has carried out extensive influence operations in an attempt to steer the policies of Western countries in its favor.
Daniel Woo, an officer in China's Ministry of State Security's espionage agency, urged Frank Creyelman, a former Belgian senator, to influence discussions in Europe on issues ranging from undermining democracy to of Chinese authorities in Hong Kong, to the persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
As German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was set to visit China in late 2022, Woo asked Creyelman to convince two wing members of the right in the European Parliament to say publicly that the USA and Great Britain were harming European energy security.
“Our intention is to aggravate US-Europe relations,” Woo wrote in a text message to Creyelman. The relationship between the Chinese secret service officer and his Belgian associate is documented in messages exchanged between 2019 and late 2022, which were obtained by a Western security agency and passed on to several journalists, as part of a joint investigation by the well-known newspapers Financial Times, Der Spiegel and Le Monde.
Creyelman did not respond to attempts to reach him by text, phone and email. The communications also reveal in detail how the Chinese secret service tries to manipulate political debates around the world in Beijing's favor, a concern increasingly raised by Western security agencies.
While most major countries engage in espionage, the MSS operation in Europe highlights one of the defining features of Chinese espionage: widespread influence operations aimed at dictating political debate spanning Ottawa, London and Canberra. Meanwhile, Washington has repeatedly warned about Beijing's covert efforts to interfere in the elections. “The MSS has spent decades trying to dictate global policy and discourse on China. The recruitment and manipulation of academics, policy-makers, business leaders, as this case also shows politicians, is part of this campaign" - says Alex Joske, consultant at the company "McGrathNicol" and author of the book "Spies and Lies". a book entirely on MSS.
According to intelligence officials from 4 Western countries, Woo operates out of the Zhejiang branch of the MSS. Western secret services have tracked him operating in Poland and Romania. In a 2021 communication, Woo told Creyelman that he had been tasked with “attacking Adrian Zenz,” a researcher who helped uncover how China arrested hundreds of thousands of people from the Uyghur Muslim minority in the far western region of Xinjiang.
Woo also asked Creyelman to help him disrupt a conference in Taiwan. The two discussed paying a middleman to influence a Catholic cardinal to warn against the politicization of Covid-19, as China came under pressure because the virus emerged from Wuhan.
Former US intelligence officials with knowledge of the MSS, who were briefed on the communications, said the messages bore the hallmarks of a classic political influence operation by the agency. "They reflect the MSS' fixation that the US was the 'black hand' behind the protest movement in Hong Kong, and a desire to constantly seek opportunities to sabotage pro-Taiwan conferences and events in third countries, and after its mission to discredit those who report on human rights abuses in Xinjiang," says Dennis Wilder, a former senior CIA analyst in China, now at Georgetown University.
Peter Mattis, a former CIA counterintelligence analyst, points out that this case illustrates a feature of Chinese intelligence: how the MSS gives autonomy to its regional branches. "So Beijing and the MSS provide direction, but intelligence officers and resources work together on how to achieve their objectives," Mattis, today head of the Jamestown Foundation think-tank, emphasizes. On the other hand, a former CIA operative with experience in Europe said that MSS agents tended to focus on recruiting lower-ranking politicians on the continent
“who have sympathy for the cause of China or who benefit from China's power".
"These lower-ranking politicians create access to senior officials, regularly discuss sensitive topics with them and then, wittingly or unwittingly, share with the MSS what they have gathered" - says the former officer of the CIA. And in fact one of the communications between Woo and Creyelman clearly reveals this strategy.
The Chinese secret agent referred to past efforts to recruit Martin Selmayr, the former Secretary General of the European Commission, who was once among the most powerful officials in Brussels. There is no evidence that China was successful in this effort.
Selmayr, aktualisht kreu i BE-së në Austri, mohoi të kishte dijeni për këtë çështje, duke shtuar se nuk ishte përgjegjësia e tij “të shpjegonte bisedat tepër të dyshimta midis njerëzve
të një natyre dukshëm të dyshimtë”. Ndërkohë mbetet e paqartë se si dhe kur u rekrutua Creyelman.
Marrëdhënia e tij me Woo duket se është zhvilluar në distancë, me përjashtim të një udhëtimi të tij në Sanya, një qytet turistik plazhi në ishullin Hainan, në vitin 2019 për të takuar menaxherin e tij të inteligjencës. Një veteran i lëvizjes nacionaliste flamande të ekstremit të djathtë në Belgjikë që nga viti 1977, Creyelman shërbeu në Senatin federal në vitet 1999- 2007 dhe aktualisht është një anëtar nderi i parlamentit flamand.
Deri të premten e shkuar ai ishte lider i partisë Vlaams Belang në qytetin e tij lokal, Mechelen. Tom Van Grieken, udhëheqësi i Vlaams Belang, tha javën e kaluar se veprimet e Creyelman “janë kundër qëllimit dhe thelbit, madje edhe emrit të partisë sonë” dhe njoftoi se ai do të përjashtohej menjëherë nga partia.
Nigel Inkster, ish-kreu i operacioneve në shërbimin sekret britanik, MI6, dhe një ekspert mbi shërbimet sekrete kineze, tha se MSS e kryen pjesën më të madhe të spiunazhit të saj përmes departamenteve provinciale dhe se Zhejiang kishte prioritet operacionet në Evropë. Një burim tha se divizioni i MSS në Zhejiang, një provincë në Kinën Lindore, kishte rreth 5000 oficerë të inteligjencës dhe zakonisht takohej me të rekrutuarit në Sanya.
“Kina zotëron një aftësi të konsiderueshme grumbullimi të aseteve njerëzore dhe elektronike në Bruksel, qytet që shihet si një mjedis i pasur me objektiva për shkak të përqendrimit të organizatave ndërkombëtare, duke përfshirë Komisionin Evropian dhe NATO-n”- shton Inkster, që tani punon si këshilltar në “Enodo Economics”.
Woo diskutoi disa herë edhe mbi shumat që do t’i paguante Creyelman ose të tjerëve për ndihmën e tyre. Ai i mësoi Creyelman si të përdorte një aplikacion për të transferuar paratë në kriptomonedha. Dhe duket se ky i fundit ka pasur pak sukses në përmbushjen e detyrave të caktuara. Për shembull në qershor 2021, e pranoi se “u përpoq të kundërshtonte” por “pa sukses një rezolutë në parlamentin belg që deklaroi se ujgurët ishin të rrezikuar nga gjenocidi”. Ndërsa në vitin 2019, Woo i kërkoi Creyelman të organizonte botimin e një artikulli kundër protestave pro-demokracisë në Hong Kong.
Creyelman tha se mund të paguante një gazetar të pavarur të paktën 2.000 euro. Gazetari me banim në Bruksel, James Wilson, tha se ai ishte kontaktuar nga Creyelman për “punë në Kinë”, por e “refuzoi me mirësjellje”, duke shtuar se shkrimi i artikujve me pagesë ishte “kundër parimeve të mia”. Arrestimi i spiunit të dyshuar ngre pikëpyetje të mëdha rreth politikës së Britanisë së Madhe ndaj Kinës.
The investigation also revealed that Woo said he was using Creyelman to persuade two Vlaams Belang members of the European parliament - Tom Vandendriessche and Filip De Man - to release statements ahead of German Chancellor Scholz's visit. "I had some problems working on other channels. So now I'm hoping that your MEPs will bring us good news", one of the messages said.
In fact there was no such statement. And Vandendriessche says he had no conversation with Creyelman on the matter. De Man, meanwhile, declined to comment on whether he had discussed the matter with Creyelman. Woo could not be reached at the 7 phone numbers and e-mail addresses he used. The Chinese embassy in Brussels itself said it was not aware of these events./FINANCIALTIMES
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