The ‘Chinese agent’ at heart of Parliament... and city’s legal sector
The 2001 Birmingham Post interview with solicitor accused by MI5 of trying to influence British policy
SChinese people are scared of authority. They don’t fight for their rights, they don’t really have that concept. It is my belief to fight. I have developed this belief that we are in the UK but we are not second class citizens. Christine Lee in 2001
HE is the Birmingham solicitor at the centre of a sensational alleged spying plot worthy of a John Le Carre novel.
Christine Lee has been part of the city’s legal sector for more than 30 years, and has campaigned for British Chinese interests through “integration, representation, participation and education”.
She is also a business woman who owns restaurants in the city and was interviewed by the Birmingham Post 20 years ago.
But now the respected 58-year-old immigration lawyer has been named as an alleged Chinese agent targeting MPs to make British policy more favourable to Beijing.
MI5 took the rare step of circulating a warning to MPs that Ms Lee, who runs law firm Christine Lee and Co from offices at Holloway Head, in Birmingham city centre, had been engaged in “political interference activities” on behalf of China’s ruling communist regime.
The claims were dismissed by a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman who accused the UK Government of being “too obsessed with James Bond 007 movies”.
However, a No.10 spokesman made clear the issue was being taken seriously and that ministers remained committed to strengthening anti-espionage legislation through a new counter-state threats bill.
It is a stunning development because Ms Lee, who lives in Solihull, is a woman with long links to Birmingham. In 2006, she posed for a Birmingham Post photographer outside her Cathay Chinese restaurant in Holloway Head.
Five years earlier, she spoke of how her journey to the legal profession was spurred on by her experience of injustice at boarding school in Belfast, where she arrived from Hong Kong aged 11 and unable to speak a word of English.
“I was emotionally abused by them,’’ she told the Post in June 2001.
“They called me c **** y and from a young age I was treated like a second class citizen.”
After A-levels, she moved to Birmingham to complete her legal studies and joined city centre solicitors Lee Crowder.
She said she soon realised she was most interested in immigration law – an area Lee Crowder did not deal in. So she left and launched her own firm.
Ms Lee said: “When I started working as an immigration lawyer, it opened my eyes to discover it was not only me that had these bad experiences.
“However, the victims did not generally want to complain about it.
“Chinese people are scared of authority. They don’t fight for their rights, they don’t really have that concept. It is my belief to fight.
“I have developed this belief that we are in the UK but we are not second class citizens.
“Unfortunately, Chinese people are very low-profile. They don’t want to be heard. They just want to get on with their business making lots of money. The community is very selfsufficient – anything that upsets their business upsets them.”
Ms Lee found her influence growing along with her burgeoning legal reputation.
She was pictured next to China’s former UK ambassador, Fu Ying, at a city restaurant in June 2007.
And she was pictured in Downing Street after founding the British Chinese Project, which describes itself as a “non-partisan, voluntarily-run organisation that seeks to elevate the presence of the UK Chinese community in the British political arena”.
She also received an award from Theresa May when she was prime minister – for her work on a project promoting good relations between the Chinese and British communities in the UK – and was a VIP guest when David Cameron hosted President Xi Jinping in London.
Her firm later expanded and now has offices in Wardour Street, in London’s Soho. It sells itself as having served the British Chinese community for over 30 years with areas of expertise including immigration, family, landlord and tenant, commercial property, company and commercial conveyancing.
A representative of the Birmingham firm refused to comment when approached.
A spokesman for the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority said: “We are aware of this issue and are gathering any relevant evidence.”
Ms Lee is currently listed as an active director at eight different firms – seven in Birmingham – according to Companies House.