Britain’s domestic intelligence agency warned on Tuesday that China has been using headhunters on LinkedIn and other covert operatives in an effort to recruit and compromise lawmakers and parliamentary staff members.

英国国内情报机构周二警告称，中国一直在利用领英上的猎头及其他秘密特工，试图招募并策反英国议员和议会工作人员。

The warning came just two months after a political scandal erupted in Britain over the collapse of an espionage case against a parliamentary researcher and a teacher accused of funneling sensitive information to Beijing.

此前两个月，英国曾爆发政治丑闻：一名议会研究员和一名教师因涉嫌向北京输送敏感信息而被控间谍罪，但案件最终撤诉。

Tuesday’s espionage alert from the agency, MI5, warned lawmakers that the Chinese foreign intelligence service, the Ministry of State Security, had been secretly targeting members of Parliament, government staff members, political consultants, economists and think tank employees.

军情五处此次发布的间谍警报指出，中国对外情报机构国家安全部一直在秘密锁定英国议会议员、政府工作人员、政治顾问、经济学家和智库人员。

“China is attempting to recruit and cultivate individuals with access to sensitive information about Parliament and the U.K. government,” Dan Jarvis, the security minister, said in a statement in the House of Commons.

“中国正试图招募和培植能够接触到英国议会及政府敏感信息的人员，”安全大臣丹·贾维斯在下议院的声明中表示。

“This activity involves a covert and calculated attempt by a foreign power to interfere with our sovereign affairs,” he said, adding that the British government “will take all necessary measures to protect our national interest, our citizens and our democratic way of life.”

“此类活动是一个外国政权以隐蔽且精心策划的方式干涉我国主权事务的行为，”他还说，英国政府“将采取一切必要措施保护国家利益、公民安全及民主生活方式”。

The alert, which was seen by The New York Times, identified two headhunters — Amanda Qiu, the chief executive of BP-YR Executive Search, a company in Beijing, and Shirly Shen of Internship Union, based in Hong Kong — as two “civilian recruitment headhunters” that it said had been used by the Ministry of State Security to target people in Britain.

《纽约时报》看到的这份警报指出，北京BP-YR Executive Search公司首席执行官邱璐以及香港“义工实习计划”的雪莉·沈（音）是国家安全部用于在英国锁定目标的“平民猎头”。

Neither Ms. Qiu or Ms. Shen immediately responded to requests for comment sent on LinkedIn.

邱璐和雪莉·沈均未回应通过领英发送的置评请求。

“The headhunters are typically China-based individuals who make initial contact with a target before referring them to an officer,” the MI5 alert said.

“这些猎头通常是中国境内人士，先与目标对象建立初步联系，再将其转介给情报官员，”军情五处的警报称。

贾维斯于周二向议会发表演讲。

The alert said that the headhunters can use fake or legitimate companies to hide their work with the Chinese intelligence services. “Using these companies they will either engage in person or using online platforms such as LinkedIn,” it said. “They often maintain some form of cover for the entire relationship.”

警报指出，猎头可能利用虚假或合法公司掩盖其与中国情报机构的合作。“他们会通过这些公司，以当面接触或领英等网络平台开展活动，且在整个合作关系中往往会保持着某种掩护身份。”

It added that targets would “typically be approached to work as freelance consultants authoring geopolitical reports.” Chinese intelligence officers had “a low threshold for what information is considered to be of value,” it said, but “individual pieces of information fit into a wider collection effort.”

警报还提到，目标对象“通常会受邀以自由顾问身份撰写地缘政治报告”。中国情报官员“对有价值信息的界定门槛很低”，但是“单个信息碎片会融入更广泛的情报收集工作中”。

A statement posted to the website of the Chinese Embassy in London on Tuesday said: “These claims by the U.K. side are pure fabrication and malicious slander. We strongly condemn such despicable moves of the U.K. side and have lodged stern representations with them.”

中国驻伦敦大使馆周二在官网发表声明称：“英方说法纯属无中生有、任意捏造、恶意诽谤，我们对此予以强烈谴责，并已向英方提出严正交涉。”

Last month, Ken McCallum, the director general of MI5, said in a speech that China was engaging in cyberespionage and the theft of advanced secrets, and had conducted “efforts to interfere covertly in U.K. public life.”

上月，军情五处处长肯·麦卡勒姆在演讲中表示，中国一直在从事网络间谍活动和窃取先进机密，还实施行动，“暗中干预英国公共生活”。

The alert sent to members of Parliament on Tuesday had the potential to revive the political debate over the case dropped in September. The decision not to bring the case to trial roiled politics in London for weeks.

周二发给议员的这份警报可能会重新引发关于9月撤诉一事的政治争议。当时的撤诉决定在伦敦政坛引发了数周的动荡。

Senior members of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government have repeatedly said that it was the decision of Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions, to drop the case against Christopher Cash, a parliamentary researcher, and Christopher Berry, a teacher. Mr. Parkinson said that the government’s unwillingness to call China a threat at the time the pair were detained meant he could not charge them under the Official Secrets Act.

首相斯塔默政府的高级成员多次表示，撤销对议会研究员克里斯托弗·卡什和教师克里斯托弗·贝里的指控是检察总长斯蒂芬·帕金森的决定。帕金森称，两人被捕时政府不愿将中国列为威胁，这意味着他无法根据《官方保密法》对二人提起诉讼。

But Mr. Starmer’s critics claimed that the prime minister and his aides had not done enough to help prosecutors make the case against Mr. Cash and Mr. Berry. That, they said, reflected the Labour government’s desire to maintain trade links with China.

但斯塔默的批评者声称，首相及其助手未能充分协助检方推进对卡什和贝里的起诉，这反映出工党政府希望维持与中国的贸易联系。

In his statement in Parliament, Mr. Jarvis did not say how successful the Chinese spies had been in penetrating the parliamentary networks or gaining access to sensitive information. But he vowed on behalf of the government to aggressively fight Chinese spying efforts.

贾维斯在议会的声明中，并未透露中国间谍在渗透议会网络或获取敏感信息方面取得了多大成功，但他代表政府誓言将坚决打击中国的间谍活动。

“We will not hesitate to hold all state actors to account,” he said.

“我们将毫不犹豫地追究所有国家行为体的责任。”他说。

He also announced that the government would take several steps to try to counter China’s efforts to spy on government officials and private businesses across the country.

他还宣布，政府将采取多项措施，应对中国针对英国各地政府官员和私营企业的间谍行为。

He said the government would spend 170 million pounds, or about $230 million, to upgrade the computer systems in Parliament and throughout government to better strengthen the security of the networks.

贾维斯表示，政府将投入1.7亿英镑（约合2.3亿美元），升级议会及全国政府部门的计算机系统，以进一步加强网络安全。

British officials will also do more to ensure the reliability of elections in Britain and work with companies that produce advanced technology, Mr. Jarvis said. He also said that government ministers would meet with top university officials to help protect universities against efforts by the Chinese government to covertly influence what is taught in classes across the country.

英国官员还将采取更多措施确保本国选举的可靠性，并与先进技术生产企业开展合作。此外，政府大臣将与顶尖高校负责人会面，帮助高校防范中国政府试图秘密影响全国课堂教学内容的行为。