Two Chinese-British dual nationals have been found guilty by a London court of spying for China. Chung Biu “Bill” Yuen, 65, and Chi Leung “Peter” Wai, 40, targeted prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activists living in the UK, whom they referred to as “cockroaches.”

Retired Hong Kong police superintendent Yuen and former Metropolitan Police officer Wai carried out “shadow policing operations” for Hong Kong’s intelligence service, prosecutor Duncan Atkinson told jurors.

Atkinson said this involved spying on dissidents based in Britain, including activist Nathan Law, for whom the Hong Kong government had issued bounties of HK$1 million (U.S.$127,703) for information leading to their whereabouts or capture.

“They wanted to know where they were, where they live, what they are doing, who they are associating with, who they are communicating with and how they are doing that, and those are the very things that these defendants were in the business of obtaining,” Atkinson said.

The Chinese embassy in London has accused Britain of fabricating the charges against Yuen, who worked at Hong Kong’s Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in London, and Wai, a British Border Force officer and volunteer officer with the City of London Police.

Jurors were shown messages between Yuen, Wai and others, which the prosecution said showed them discussing plans to target activists and carry out surveillance on British political figures.

Political figures targeted

One of the politicians mentioned was Sir Iain Duncan Smith, co-chair of the UK branch of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, which focuses on democratic and human rights issues in China. 

Yuen and Wai were convicted of one count of assisting a foreign intelligence service following the trial at London’s Old Bailey. Both denied the charge.

Wai was also convicted of misusing his role at the UK Border Force to gain access to the British interior ministry’s computer system.

The jury could not reach a verdict on a separate charge of conducting “foreign interference” by forcing entry, on behalf of Hong Kong authorities, into the home of a woman in northern England in 2024.

The woman, the personal assistant to a Chinese heiress, has been accused of fraud in Hong Kong. 

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Tensions between Britain and China

A third man accused of the same offences, Matthew Trickett, 37, a former Royal Marine, took his own life in a park in the town of Maidenhead in 2024.

Relations between Britain and China have been strained over a sweeping national security crackdown in Hong Kong since sometimes violent pro-democracy protests swept the territory in 2019.

Hong Kong was under British rule for 156 years before the UK handed it back to China in 1997.

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