UK-China book: https://xitter.cf/t.co/fNMgtRmQm6 Senior Analyst at @GI_TOC. PhD on shadow international relations. Previously academia. Views my own. Erstwhile 北漂儿
Joined December 2017
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1/20 The news about "Chinese agent" Christine Lee broke today. I've been following her case for some time & in fact she featured in my PhD thesis on UK-China hidden relations. She's appeared in stories by @thetimes & @GuidoFawkes before. Yet there's still a lot more to this case.
NEW: Since 2005, suspected Chinese agent Christine Lee has donated £675,586.88 to either Barry Gardiner's office or directly to the Labour Party.
thesun.co.uk/news/politics/1…
Martin Thorley 马丁 retweeted
✍️ ‘Martin Thorley, a China expert and author of All That Glistens, a book tracing China’s influence in Britain, told The Times that infrastructure projects faced additional risk.’
Read @METhorley’s interview in @thetimes @GeorgeGreenwood
thetimes.com/business/energy…
Martin Thorley 马丁 retweeted
🇨🇳🇬🇧 In the @thetimes today, author @METhorley's discusses China's influence in Britain today. Read the article here: tinyurl.com/2c9yxsz2
To order 'All That Glistens: Chinese Party-State Influence in Britain' by @METhorley at 25% discount, use code GLISTENS25 ➡️tinyurl.com/34wdtpp2
ALT Screenshot of the Times article 'British lawyers and academics in China's web of influence' with snapshots of XI and others with red stars in the background.
Martin Thorley 马丁 retweeted
From the contorsions of the non-interference principle to the episodic unholy alliance with transnational criminal groups, our latest #Borderlands episode explores how Beijing envisions and operationalizes security at China’s edges. strategicspace.nbr.org/docum…
Martin Thorley 马丁 retweeted
BORDERLANDS PODCAST: Conversation with Carla P. Freeman, @ShibaniMahtani, @METhorley, and @RollandNadege on the evolution of #China’s attempts to address security concerns in its proximate periphery and approach to addressing transnational #organizedcrime: strategicspace.nbr.org/docum…
Martin Thorley 马丁 retweeted
The Second Xizang International Communication Conference 第二届西藏国际传播大会 held in Lhasa on 16 June.
m.tibet.cn/eng/index/rolling…
and
cicg.org.cn/2026-06/17/conte…
Martin Thorley 马丁 retweeted
Wie kommt es, dass in Deutschland so viele Menschen die Schattenseiten von Autokratien nicht sehen wollen - oder schlimmer noch - als gegeben hinnehmen? In diesem 🧵 geht es um deutsche Befindlichkeiten: von Lebenslügen über Selbstzensur bis hin zu Selbstvasallisierung /1
Martin Thorley 马丁 retweeted
bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0m2…
🇨🇳🇬🇧 After a UK immigration officer has been found guilty of working for Chinese intelligence, debates about China’s influence in the UK is under scrutiny once again. Read a sample of @METhorley's 'All That Glistens: Chinese Party-State Influence in Britain' & order at 25% discount here ➡️ tinyurl.com/24rr45d9
And pre-order ‘Uneasy Streets: How Chinese Money Is Remaking Urban Britain’ by @urbanmorph tinyurl.com/3zmj679f
Martin Thorley 马丁 retweeted
Published today: I sat down with The Wire China for an interview - we discussed my new book, engagement with authoritarian states, the UK's 'golden era' with China, and the financialisation of liberal democracy.
thewirechina.com/2026/04/12/…
Martin Thorley 马丁 retweeted
This is huge.
Sensitive data of UK nationals for sale in China. Depressingly predictable.
1. Summon the Chinese ambassador.
2. @alexsobel proposed an amendment to prevent data transfer to China, which was resisted by Govt. Can we have this now?
news.sky.com/story/medical-d…
Martin Thorley 马丁 retweeted
To know more than Keir Starmer about Mandelson’s murky ties with China, pick up your copy of ‘All That Glistens: Chinese Party-State Influence in Britain’ by @METhorley, the book Charles Parton OBE references in the Sky News interview below.
25% off w/code GLISTENS25
➡️ tinyurl.com/495rxc4d
Many thanks to Charles Parton OBE for the mention on Sky News this morning - discussing the Mandelson case and China.
The revolving door, political donations, All-party parliamentary groups - we don't know it yet but these are the frontline in a significant geopolitical battle.
Martin Thorley 马丁 retweeted
🚨 Very important and rare contemporary testimony from a former Xinjiang police officer, who witnesses to continuing atrocities against the Uyghur.
His account of torture and persecution destroys the notion that things have “improved” in the region.👇
spiegel.de/ausland/china-pol…?
Martin Thorley 马丁 retweeted
"In the UK at this time, the so-called ‘money men’ seem to have outmaneuvered those responsible for issues closer to security and sovereignty."
Read our Q&A with @METhorley on the UK-China "golden era:" buff.ly/364ywAI
Published today: I sat down with The Wire China for an interview - we discussed my new book, engagement with authoritarian states, the UK's 'golden era' with China, and the financialisation of liberal democracy.
thewirechina.com/2026/04/12/…
1/5 I’m delighted to present an open access academic article introducing ‘Geocriminality’, published in @GI_TOC journal JIED with London School of Economics @LSEPress
The way states instrumentalize criminal elements has evolved.
jied.lse.ac.uk/articles/10.3…
4/5 The article has received positive academic feedback from those working in the field and the concept itself has been welcomed privately and publicly by partners working in security, intelligence and law enforcement.
Martin Thorley 马丁 retweeted
With all the news, the ABSOLUTELY STAGGERING details of the #HKETO foreign interference trial are going unnoticed.
Here's a 🧵 of some of the jaw-dropping details from the prosecution:
1. Defendants pour water under the door of the victim, then force entry (📽️ below) bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80j…
2. Defendants allegedly surveil victims' flat with an endoscopic camera. instagram.com/reels/DVicSKTj…
3. Defendant repeatedly knocked on the victim's door while claiming to be building maintenance in order to gain entry. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80j…
4. Defendants deliver package to the victim at their address while filming the encounter. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80j…
5. Defendant uses access to the Home Office ‘Atlas’ immigration database in order to obtain personal information. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80j…
6. Defendant attends anti-china protests using a fake police ID card. news.sky.com/story/city-of-l…
7. Defendant sent a list of names back to handler in Hong Kong naming several UK lawmakers and HK pro-democracy supporters. Including @MPIainDS independent.co.uk/news/uk/cr…
8. Defendant allegedly paid £4,500 per month to record and track local pro-democracy campaigners. independent.co.uk/news/uk/cr…
9. Defendant and former Hong Kong Police officer discussed deploying local Chinese triads (14K) to “teach Mr. Cheng a lesson”. In a separate incident, pro-democracy protestors were beaten up in London’s Chinatown by the members from the same triad group. pulsehknews.com/20260311chu_…
Please note that this work was allegedly commissioned and paid for by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office - Hong Kong's de facto 'embassy' in the UK. Let this serve as a rebuke to those who claim that a mega-embassy (with attendant increase in PRC diplomats) will have no impact on interference.