Chinese spies recruited European politician in operation to divide west

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Chinese spies ran a far-right Belgian politician as an intelligence asset for more than three years in a case that shows how Beijing has conducted influence operations in an effort to shape politics in its favour.

In a joint investigation by the Financial Times, Der Spiegel and Le Monde, 30 months of text messages between 2019 and 2022 show that Daniel Woo, an officer in China’s Ministry of State Security spy agency, pushed former Belgian senator Frank Creyelman to influence discussions in Europe on issues ranging from China’s crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong to its persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

The investigation also reveals that when German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was about to visit China in late 2022, Woo asked Creyelman to convince two rightwing members of the European parliament to say publicly that the US and UK were undermining European energy security. In a text message to Creyelman, Woo said: “Our purpose is to divide the US-European relationship.”

Creyelman appears to have had little success in fulfilling the tasks assigned by Woo in the texts. In June 2021, for example, he admitted that he “tried to oppose . . . without success” a resolution in the Belgian parliament that declared Uyghurs at risk of genocide.

The exchanges reveal in explicit detail how Chinese intelligence tries to manipulate political discussion around the world in Beijing’s favour — a concern increasingly flagged by western security agencies.

Here’s what I’m keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:

• Brussels summit: EU leaders meet in Brussels for a second day where the Middle East will be on the agenda.

• Economic data: Argentina releases third-quarter growth figures, the first since Javier Milei became president promising to devalue the peso by half and slash public spending.

• Serbia: Snap parliamentary and local elections will be held on Sunday.

How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.

Five more top stories

1. The US has told Israel to lower the intensity of its war with Hamas “in the near future”, the White House said yesterday. US national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his trip to the Middle East this week, after the Jewish state warned that the war could take months.

2. The EU has failed to agree a critical €50bn financial aid package to Ukraine after Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán vetoed the proposal, throwing into doubt Europe’s ongoing support to Kyiv. The collapse of talks on the funding, seen as crucial for Ukraine’s financial stability into 2024, follows repeated failures by the US Congress to agree a $60bn aid package proposed by the White House. Here’s the full story.

3. Exclusive: Elon Musk privately told some lenders who funded his Twitter buyout that they would not lose money, according to people familiar with the matter. The verbal guarantees were made to bankers who lent him $13bn as a way to reassure them after the social media platform, now called X, fell sharply in value after he bought it. Read the full story.

4. A former FBI agent who worked for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska has been sentenced to more than four years in prison, after pleading guilty in August to violating US sanctions and money laundering laws. Charles McGonigal, who previously served as special agent in charge of counter-intelligence at the FBI’s New York office “abused his position” as one of the most important counter-intelligence officers in the world, prosecutors said. Here’s the full story.

5. Opec+ now controls barely half of global oil production as demand growth slows “drastically” while US output reaches new highs, in the latest findings from the International Energy Agency. The west’s energy watchdog has said that recent production cuts to prop up oil prices have caused a drop in the market share of Opec+, which stands at just 51 per cent — the lowest since the expanded cartel was set up in 2016. Here are the latest IEA findings.

News in-depth

Europe’s central bankers insisted yesterday it was too soon to let down their guard against high inflation despite a volte-face by US Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell. While the European Central Bank and the Bank of England appear determined to push back against rate-cutting speculation, their protests risk being drowned out as investors bet they will follow the Fed in signalling cuts to borrowing costs in 2024.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Ivory Coast: Tidjane Thiam, who ran Aviva, Prudential and Credit Suisse, is taking the first step in a campaign to become president of the west African country.

• US presidential campaign: Donald Trump is overperforming, but there’s a way back for Joe Biden: the starting point is ditching “Bidenomics”, says Stanley Greenburg.

• Quant investing: Robin Wigglesworth’s latest FT Alphaville feature on the ups and downs of data-driven AQR as we approach the end of the quant winter.

Chart of the day

When can investors expect inflation to fall and central banks to ease the pressure on interest rates? At the end of 2023, it appears markets have drawn their own conclusions, by and large shrugging off worries of a “hard landing” in which high rates pitch economies into a downturn. Inflation went into decline in many regions, while data points to a strengthening US economy and labour market, a major point of discussion at this year’s FT Money annual investment lunch.

Take a break from the news

In a year of titans from Tár to Napoleon, FT film critic Danny Leigh has selected the best films of 2023. Among the top 10 are compelling courtroom dramas, urgent documentaries — and a donkey.

Additional contributions from Tee Zhuo and Benjamin Wilhelm.