China-Linked Espionage Targeting Former US Officials and UK Government Communications

Reporting indicates China-linked intelligence activity is targeting current and former Western government officials through both human and technical collection. In the US case, a suspected Chinese influence/collection network using a purported consultancy (Foresight and Strategy) allegedly approached a former senior State Department official and offered payment to produce an assessment of US policy priorities in Venezuela, consistent with prior research describing a nexus of fake companies and websites used to recruit people with government and think-tank policy experience.

In the UK, Chinese state-linked hackers are accused of maintaining years-long access to communications associated with senior Downing Street officials, with reporting alleging compromises affecting phones used by aides to former prime ministers Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak dating back to 2021 and discovered in 2024. The activity has been linked by sources to Salt Typhoon, a China-aligned espionage group associated with telecom-provider intrusions that can enable collection of call metadata and potentially content (texts/calls), allowing intelligence value even without direct handset malware.