Allegations raise calls for caution in UK over bid to re-establish China links
Ministers will come under pressure this week to set a timeline to revive the foreign influence registration scheme , which had been delayed until next year, and to put
A Home Office source said the Conservatives had not left the scheme in a fit state to be enacted but that it was still the government’s intention for it to come into force. The former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith is seeking an urgent question in the House of Commons on Monday or a government statement where he hopes to put new pressure on the government on FIRS.The revelations come at an awkward moment for the UK government’s attempted reset of relations with Beijing, embraced by both Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves in a push for healthier economic growth.
“My view of relationships with authoritarian countries is that if you give them an inch, they take a mile. What may seem like an overreaction is actually a warning. We’ve been here before with Russia, where we try and have a positive relationship, and we let relatively small acts of aggression or espionage go. We’ve got to learn that lesson in terms of our relationship with China.”
“The FIRS scheme is specifically designed to understand and protect against the work of United Front Work Department actions in the United Kingdom. It’s essential that China is on the enhanced scheme, to protect against this kind of attempt at influence.
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