Is this what spying by China can look like?

"Simon Whelband is a Conservative councillor and also works for the Conservative MP Neil O'Brien, who was sanctioned by China in 2021. Simon went into his LinkedIn messages and there it was. A message from an account in the name of Shirly Shen sent some weeks earlier. He hadn't responded to the unsolicited message and reported it to Parliament's security services. He was then advised to block the account."

"The note comes across as pretty innocuous. He said: "The message wasn't written in very good English, it was a message to say there was a job opportunity and was I interested, and to get in touch if I was. "I've worked around Parliament for about 10 years now so I'm kind of used to this. "But if you were more junior, you don't know what you're looking for. "You might think it's a genuine offer that's made to you on LinkedIn, they might accept.""

"Whelband added that he thought it was becoming more common for those working in Parliament to be targeted by China. "They have realised the way to get to Parliamentarians is through their staff... it's deeply worrying," he said. And so, for the second time this autumn, Westminster is collectively wrestling with what to do about China. The growing influence of this vast superpower is one of the two stand out global changes of the last 30 years, alongside the growth of the internet."

Parliamentary staff are receiving unsolicited LinkedIn messages from accounts linked to China, often presented as job offers and written in poor English. One staffer reported a message and was advised to block the account. Targeting staff is seen as a tactic to reach parliamentarians by exploiting less experienced aides. Officials note that China's global rise combined with internet growth creates acute threats when both trends intersect. Senior government figures express guarded concern publicly while opposition MPs speak more bluntly. Westminster is again confronting how to respond to Beijing's influence and espionage risks as incidents accumulate.

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