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China: National Security

Asked by Alicia KearnsConservativeHome OfficeTabled Answered 19 May 2026UIN 474

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of trends in the level of People's Republic of China-linked transnational repression involving criminal proxies targeting UK-based dissidents.

Answered by Dan Jarvis

Perpetrating states use a wide range of methodologies to conduct transnational repression. The UK’s approach to countering state-directed threats is systematic, comprehensive, and continually improving.

The Government continually assesses the threat using a multisource model - combining intelligence assessments, policing insight, international engagement and contributions from civil society and affected individuals - to improve our understanding of behaviours and countries of concern.

Some foreign states are recruiting proxies to commit harmful acts that threaten the UK’s national security.

The implementation of the National Security Act has provided our intelligence services and police with a suite of measures to protect our national security, the safety of the British public, and our vital interests from malign state threat activity. Individuals may be at risk of committing an offence under the National Security Act if they knew, or ought reasonably to have known they were undertaking activity on behalf of a foreign power.

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