Pressure on the UK
China
Espionage alerts to parliamentarians, a Five Eyes bulletin on intelligence officers posing as recruiters, prosecutions for foreign interference, and continual cyber activity. What holds the score below Russia and Iran is that the UK has not placed China on the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, having considered specifying selected state-linked bodies instead.
Espionage and recruitment against UK institutions
62/100 · 25% weight
MI5 issued an espionage alert to parliamentarians in November 2025 over Chinese intelligence officers approaching them through professional networking sites. In June 2026 the Five Eyes partners issued a joint bulletin warning that Chinese military intelligence officers pose as recruiters and consultants for cover companies registered outside China, targeting people with access to classified or privileged information.
Where the UK has formally placed China
30/100 · 20% weight
China is not on the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme. Russia and Iran were specified from 1 July 2025; the government has instead been considering whether to specify selected Chinese state-linked bodies rather than the state itself. That gap is the clearest official signal that the UK does not currently rank China alongside the two states it has designated, and it holds this assessment down.
Political interference and prosecutions
50/100 · 15% weight
Parliament debated foreign interference arrests connected to China in March 2026, and a National Security (State Threats) Bill was before the Commons in June 2026. Cases have been brought and legislation is being extended, which is a sign of activity — and of a system responding to it.
Cyber operations against UK networks
55/100 · 20% weight
Chinese state-linked cyber activity against UK institutions is described by the government as continual, and directed at obtaining information on UK policymaking. Steady and persistent rather than a step change.
Trajectory of official assessment
55/100 · 20% weight
The MI5 director general said in October 2025 that state threat activity had risen by around a third in a year and was now comparable to, or greater than, the threat from terrorism. That is a statement about state threats as a whole rather than China alone, so it is weighted here but not treated as a China-specific figure.
Disputed
China's government has lodged formal representations with the UK rejecting the espionage allegations.