Two defendants in the espionage case involving the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, Yuan Songbiao (Chung Biu Yuen, Bill Yuen) and Wai Zhi Liang (Chi Leung &Peter Wai), have been found guilty. (UK Crown Prosecution Service)
[People News] A court in the UK sentenced two men to prison on Thursday (June 18) for engaging in espionage activities for China and monitoring dissenters from Hong Kong, according to a report by People's Daily.
Voice of America reported that 66-year-old retired Hong Kong police superintendent Chung Biu Bill Yuen and 41-year-old former UK border enforcement officer Chi Leung Peter Wai received sentences of eight and ten years, respectively, for conducting 'shadow police' operations within the UK.
At the time of the offenses, Chung Biu Bill Yuen was the executive manager of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, which represents the Hong Kong government. Chi Leung Peter Wai was employed by the UK Border Agency. He was also convicted of misconduct in public office for misusing his position to access sensitive information about individuals of interest to the Hong Kong authorities in the Home Office database, resulting in a four-year sentence that will run concurrently with the six-year sentence for espionage, totaling ten years.
Since the implementation of the stringent National Security Law in Hong Kong in mid-2020, tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents have immigrated to the UK, including pro-democracy activists sought by the Chinese Communist authorities.
Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb characterized the actions of the two men as 'deliberate, coordinated, and serious' when delivering the sentencing decision at the Central Criminal Court in the UK.
She also stated that the prosecution's characterization of the two individuals as 'shadow police' is accurate. She noted that their actions instilled 'fear and suffering' in those they targeted.
In May of this year, a 12-member jury at the Central Criminal Court in London found that the two individuals had violated the UK National Security Act by assisting foreign intelligence agencies through surveillance of targets from December 2023 to May 2024. Their targets included former Hong Kong legislator Luo Guansong, who is wanted by Hong Kong authorities with a reward of up to 1 million Hong Kong dollars, Chinese dissidents seeking asylum in the UK, and UK parliamentarians, among others.
Following their conviction, the Washington-based non-profit organization advocating for Hong Kong human rights and freedoms, the Hong Kong Freedom Committee Foundation (CFHK), released a statement saying: 'This landmark conviction under the UK National Security Act marks the first successful prosecution in the UK of transnational repression related to Hong Kong. It also underscores the growing concerns across Europe that repressive actions have now extended far beyond Hong Kong itself.'
The Hong Kong monitoring organization, Hong Kong Watch, welcomed the ruling in a statement, asserting that the conviction and sentencing of the two individuals indicate that 'the UK will not tolerate espionage activities by the Chinese Communist Party.'
The organization further urged the UK government to take the following actions: review the consular privileges and immunities enjoyed by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London; evaluate whether its operations align with the UK's national security interests; and include China in the enhanced level of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS).
In recent years, the transnational repression activities of the Chinese Communist Party have drawn the attention of several countries. On May 13, a jury in the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, found New York resident Lu Jianwang guilty of acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese Communist government and obstructing justice. These charges are linked to Lu's role in managing overseas police stations for the Ministry of Public Security of the Chinese Communist Party in downtown Manhattan, New York, as well as his involvement in destroying related evidence.
On May 11, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Eileen Wang, the mayor of Arcadia, California, was charged with illegally serving as an agent of the Chinese Communist government, and she has agreed to plead guilty.
In early 2026, the French counter-espionage agency shut down nine secret 'police stations' operating within France that were serving Beijing's interests.
A report released in 2023 by the human rights organization Safeguard Defenders, based in Madrid, Spain, revealed that the Chinese Communist Party has set up 102 secret overseas police stations across 53 countries worldwide.
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