Chinese regime influence operations are undermining the United Kingdom’s democratic system, academia, and legal sovereignty, forcing London to act, analyst Lin Tzuli said.
“British politicians and security officials now regard Chinese infiltration as extremely serious, a threat to the very foundations of the country’s democracy,” Tzuli, director of the Center for China and Regional Development at Taiwan’s Tunghai University, told The Epoch Times.
“The UK is steadily building up its legal defenses.”
The Chinese Embassy in London said in an Oct. 20 post on Chinese social media platform WeChat that British border officers had recently held several Chinese travelers for extended questioning as they entered or left the UK, seizing their phones and other electronic devices.
The embassy said those detained included members of Chinese trade delegations, people visiting relatives, and tourists.
British officers carried out the checks under the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019, but Beijing has expressed “serious concern” and lodged stern representations with London, it said.
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The law allows UK border authorities to stop, question, search, and detain people to determine whether they are engaged in hostile activity on behalf of a foreign state.
Ken McCallum, director general of MI5—the UK’s domestic intelligence agency—said in his Oct. 13 annual threat update that various arms of the Chinese state are carrying out “espionage, coercion or democratic interference” against the country.
Lin said UK intelligence officials and lawmakers have previously found that Chinese spy agencies use consulting firms, overseas offices, and academics as cover, giving London strong sovereign grounds to crack down.
“Such tactics are textbook gray-zone operations,” he said.
“Even in past espionage cases, UK arrests and prosecutions were backed by hard evidence such as surveillance records and money trails. They were not the ‘political farce’ Beijing often makes them out to be.”
Director General of MI5, Sir Ken McCallum speaks at Thames House, the headquarters of the UK’s Security Service in London on Oct. 13, 2026. Jonathan Brady-WPA Pool/Getty Images
Gray-zone operations are hostile actions, such as espionage, cyberattacks, and influence campaigns, that stop short of open conflict.
Shen Ming-shih, research fellow at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said China’s protests do nothing to change the UK’s full authority to screen anyone entering the country.
“After years of exposed spy cases, trust in Beijing among the UK public and politicians has hit rock bottom,” Shen told The Epoch Times.
“The embassy’s accusations carry little weight and are widely seen as defensive diplomatic rhetoric meant to turn the pressure back on London.”
Far-Reaching Infiltration
Beijing-linked actors also breached the UK Electoral Commission’s systems between 2021 and 2022 and conducted reconnaissance on members of Parliament, the report said.
Shen said the UK’s latest actions and recent findings show how deep and wide Chinese infiltration runs.
“China also has local agents on the ground, as the earlier case of lawyer Christine Lee shows,” Shen said.
“It has been caught running unauthorized overseas police stations at several locations in the UK to intimidate and coerce dissidents, a direct challenge to the country’s judicial sovereignty and internal security.”
Lin said the regime has already pushed into technology and other strategic sectors.
“That includes long-term involvement in critical infrastructure such as 5G networks and nuclear power plants, as well as angling for technology transfers,” he said.
Retaliation Risk
Shen said that if London keeps stopping Chinese travelers it considers suspicious, Beijing could retaliate against British businesspeople, academics or diplomats at its own border, invoking national security laws.
“That could mean lengthy spot checks and the seizure of laptops, phones and other devices,” he said.
“China could detain British nationals in the country, from executives to nongovernmental organization workers, bar them from leaving or prosecute them for ‘endangering state security.’”
Shen said the regime could also impose trade penalties.
“Exports such as Scotch whisky, salmon, and chemicals could face stricter quarantine inspections or import bans,” he said.
“At the same time, British companies could find their access to key supply chains such as rare earths and green energy components restricted.”
Shen said the UK has tried in recent years to revive trade talks with China while protecting national security, but the two countries could now be drawn into escalating retaliation over border checks and spy cases.
“That pragmatic balance will be hard to sustain, and relations will revert to hard-line confrontation,” he said.
“If business ties and exchanges dry up, the UK and China could end up in a de facto decoupling in trade, education and academia, one that only gathers speed.”