Belgian Politician Booted From Party After Texts With China Spy Leaked

A security guard stands near a sculpture of the Chinese Communist Party flag at the Museum of the Communist Party of China on May 26, 2022, in Beijing. Ng Han Guan/AP File

A Belgian politician has been booted from his party after allegedly serving as an asset for a Chinese communist spy ring for years.

Frank Creyelman, a former Senator and honorary member of the Belgian Parliament, allegedly sought to influence European policy on China-related issues and to worsen U.S.-European relations on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to a trove of leaked text messages.

The allegations follow the publication of numerous text messages between Mr. Creyelman and a Chinese spy handler, first uncovered by a joint investigation by the Financial Times, Der Spiegel, and Le Monde.

The texts suggest that Mr. Creyelman and CCP Ministry of State Security officer Daniel Woo worked together for at least three years, during which time Mr. Creyelman appeared to accept payments in exchange for promoting CCP talking points and smearing the regime’s critics.

Mr. Creyelman and Mr. Woo’s alleged plots included efforts to break up a Taiwan-related conference, publicly smearing the researchers who uncovered evidence of genocide in China’s Xinjiang province, and even a proposed bribe to a Catholic cardinal.

In all, the conspiracy outlines how far the CCP regime may be willing to go to destabilize the international order for its own benefit.

In some of the texts, Mr. Woo told Mr. Creyelman that his organization sought to create embarrassment and worry for American leadership, and to divide the United States and Europe.

“Our purpose is to divide the US-European relationship,” Mr. Woo wrote in one of the messages.

CCP Uses Spies to Shape Information Landscape

Mr. Creyelman served in various positions in the Belgian Parliament from 1995 to 2014, at one point acting as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Policy, European Affairs, and International Cooperation.

He belonged to Belgium’s right-wing Vlaams Belang party and previously traveled abroad to express support for other authoritarian regimes in Russia and Belarus.

Vlaams Belang leader Tom Van Grieken announced shortly after the publication of the texts that Mr. Creyelman had been expelled from the party.

“His behavior is completely unacceptable and is contrary to the aims and reason for being of our party,” Mr. Van Grieken said.

“This is miles apart from what our nationalism stands for.”

It is currently unclear when Mr. Creyelman and Mr. Woo met, or when precisely their working relationship began, but the texts span from 2019 to 2022.

During that time, Mr. Creyelman asked for payments ranging from €6,000 to €10,000 for his assignments.

Mr. Woo later urged Mr. Creyelman to accept payments in cryptocurrency, and introduced him to the Chinese-owned crypto exchange Binance, the reports say.

Several of the text exchanges appear to discuss shaping international debate about the CCP, and demonstrate how the regime manipulates political discourse around the world.

In 2019, for instance, Mr. Creyelman sought to arrange the publication of an article condemning pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong at Mr. Woo’s bidding.

Later, Mr. Woo said that he had been tasked with “attacking” a researcher who helped reveal the CCP’s detention and genocide of the Uyghur minority group in China.

Mr. Creyelman also allegedly sought to oppose a Belgian resolution condemning China’s genocide at the regime’s request but failed to garner support among the Belgian Parliament.

Similarly, as evidence began to emerge that COVID-19 leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, the pair discussed using an intermediary to sway a Catholic cardinal to publicly denounce efforts to politicize COVID-19.

Then, prior to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s 2022 trip to Beijing, Mr. Woo encouraged Mr. Creyelman to pressure his fellow party members to issue statements about the trip.

The pair’s relationship was conducted almost entirely remotely, with the exception of a one-off meeting in China’s Hainan province in 2019.

The report said that Mr. Woo appeared to have operated out of China’s Zhejiang province, Poland, and Romania, using LinkedIn to try to recruit European officials and their associates as CCP assets.

Members of the Belgian Parliament attend a session prior to voting for a bill proposition on April 29, 2010, in Brussels. Georges Gobet/Getty Images

CCP Engaged in Illicit Influence Operations Worldwide 

The leaked texts offer one small glimpse into the panoply of efforts undertaken by the CCP to sow discord worldwide.

Such efforts go well beyond the apparent greed of one European politician, however, and involve more direct interference in international affairs.

During the United States 2022 midterm elections, for example, China-based hackers impersonated American voters online and used artificial intelligence to create and promote divisive online content, according to a report by Microsoft.

The effort was part of a series of covert influence operations intended to mimic U.S. voters from across the political spectrum and create controversy along racial, economic, and ideological lines.

Likewise, tech giant Meta has reported that it purged thousands of accounts linked to Chinese law enforcement from its platforms, saying the accounts were part of the largest known covert influence operation in the world.

A Meta statement said that the operation spread pro-CCP and anti-U.S. propaganda.

What’s more, the regime’s efforts to illegally influence international affairs show signs of accelerating.

A recent report (pdf) by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future found that the CCP was adapting targeted messaging techniques to influence well-defined audiences segmented on granular demographic data.

These new efforts, according to the report, likely receive guidance or material support from the MSS as well as the regime’s United Front Work Department, a powerful agency charged with overseeing global influence operations.