The Liberal Democrats must publish the full details of their connections to China, says local MP Fay Jones, after it was revealed that the party had received funding from a woman suspected to be a Chinese Communist Party spy.
Last week, Members of Parliament were warned that a CCP informant – Christine Lee – had infiltrated a number of MPs offices through a series of donations. Sir Ed Davey’s local association, Kingston and Surbiton Liberal Democrats, received £5,000 from Ms Lee. This was at the same time as Sir Ed was Energy Minister in 2014. Sir Ed later confirmed he had no knowledge of the donation. Sir Ed has also declared donations from Chinese telecoms firm, Huawei. Labour MP Barry Gardiner – a former shadow international trade minister – received £500,000 from Ms Lee over a six year period and employed her son as a member of staff until Thursday morning.
Ms Jones said:
“I welcome that the Business Secretary has announced an inquiry into this matter. We should all be concerned at the level of access that China has but this is a worrying development. Our country must be protected at all costs from interference by foreign actors and so I am hugely concerned at the allegation that the Liberal Democrats took donations from Chinese operatives – and no questions were asked.
It’s crucial now that the Welsh Liberal Democrats make it clear whether any funding from Ms Lee made its way to them. We know that the current leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats declared almost £80,000 in donations during her time as an MP. It should be clarified whether any of this funding came from anyone with connections to China.
The Chinese Communist Party is responsible for upholding a brutal and oppressive regime. The systematic breaching of human rights, especially against the Uighur population, is well documented and continues despite international condemnation. Five Conservative Members of the House of Commons are currently subject to Chinese sanctions after they courageously spoke out against the cruel communist regime and its treatment of the Uighur.
For the sake of our democracy and the integrity of political system, it is vital that CCP funding is identified and cut off. We all have a duty to be extremely vigilant about the access China gets to the UK.”