London Chinese Embassy Bomb Hoax - Harry's Story
When the trolls win we all lose: Independent journalist Harry Allen faces down the invisible hand of the CCP.
A bomb threat hoax in London. This is nothing out of the ordinary, and the Metropolitan Police, let alone the diplomatic police who swarmed the Chinese Embassy on Thursday, should have done prior investigation before detaining Drew and myself.
What began as peaceful protest by Pavlou soon turned into a fabricated trap. One that ensnared us both. The Chinese Communist Party and its herd of ultra-nationalist aggravators – online and offline are well known to falsify claims, and they are continually doing so to Drew under false emails as I write this. Human rights campaigners and politicians alike are being fed misinformation at the expense of Drews name.
The initial threat was sent via Proton mail, an encrypted and private server which is often difficult to track. This leaves the Metropolitan police with a lengthy, and likely costly investigation if the Chinese embassy decides to press any charges. A potential case with little substance just proves the trolls have done their job.
It is difficult to speak with journalistic neutrality on this after being detained under an immense level of uncertainty and stress, but for all sides involved, it is a battle to save face rather than the legal fight. Nobody wants to come out of this debacle looking stupid. Not the Met, not the Embassy, nor the British government, when and if they intervene.
Drew was peacefully protesting, but that is almost a given now. The man has dedicated most of his adult life to exposing and informing the public on the atrocities being committed in Xinjiang among a multitude of other human rights violations involving Hong Kong, Tibet and Taiwan.
The Met should know better than to lock us away for 24 hours with restricted access to lawyers.
Terrorist threats should always be taken seriously considering London’s history but with all the perceived sophistication of British intelligence services and hours of warning, it took almost a day to realise they were detaining a journalist and a globally known, human rights activist.
It made more sense for the Met to anticipate a threat made hours before, barricade the embassy entrance, and wait things out than to delve into the email threat itself. Still going unsolved.
Liberal democracies are fragile and with sluggish GDP growth across the western world, most governments cannot help but welcome outside investment, especially from China. However, the events experienced by myself and Drew on Thursday do beg the question – what price are we paying for that investment? Because it is becoming real influence.
Whether that influence is directly or indirectly endorsed by the CCP does not matter so much because the threats are rarely rebuffed by the Chinese. In Britain, we are simply at the tip of an iceberg, a juncture that Australia reached a long time ago in their plight against CCP influence and interference activities. It is now the UK’s time to set a precedent for future cases like ours.
Contrary to Thursday’s arrest, the Christine Lee situation in the UK parliament was a much more sophisticated attempt at buying Chinese control in British politics.
Our detention over a bomb hoax was purely disruptive and shows just how much bedroom crusaders can affect the British justice system just as well as suited and booted insiders.
It is no secret this debacle has wasted valuable police time but more emphatically, it discourages hard fought values such as freedom of expression and the right to protest, on our own soil. China is winning and funnily enough, nobody seems too bothered.
Now with the race for the next British PM heating up, both Sunak and Truss are talking tough on their China policy. Until our situation is promptly resolved, in my mind, their words mean nothing.
Drew and Australia itself have been at the forefront of increasing Chinese state influence for years but when it comes to Britain, we are proving ourselves poor note-takers. We must wake-up before it is too late.
Harry Allen
Independent Journalist and Democracy Activist