Frank Creyelman, who from 2007 to 2014 was a Belgian MP for the far-right Flemish party Vlaams Belang (VB), received an initial text message on July 3, 2019: "Could you write me a report on Charles Michel about his political views, personalities, hobbies and views on our country [China]?" The day before, Michel, prime minister of Belgium from 2014 to 2019, had been elected president of the European Council, one of the European Union's most strategic offices.

Three days later, the former MP – now 62 years old – received a follow-up message. For his first report, he rehashed some of the far-right's clichés: He claimed the Belgian leader had "bought" his new position through political maneuvering, and that he was linked to "internationalists surrounding [George] Soros," the Hungarian-born American billionaire regularly targeted by the far right. "Moneycrazy but no friend of China or Russia," concluded Creyelman.

Who was he writing to? According to hundreds of messages obtained by Der Spiegel, the Financial Times and Le Monde, the European politician was exchanging messages with a Chinese intelligence agent, who went by the name of "Daniel Woo."

From then until at least 2022, Woo regularly contacted his Belgian contact. In the English-language text messages the journalists accessed, this agent of unknown age – of whom no photograph appears to exist online – asked Creyelman for information on confidential meetings organized at the European Parliament, inquired about the recruitment of potential sources and entrusted him with a number of "missions." In particular, the agent shared pro-Chinese talking points about Covid-19, the Uyghurs – the oppressed Muslim minority in China's Xinjiang region – or the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, which Beijing had harshly repressed.

A Chinese intelligence ministry officer

In 2022, in anticipation of visits to China by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron, Woo summarized his Western influence operation in a text message: "Main idea is to attack European leadrs and make US sick." When contacted, the spy and his contact did not respond to our multiple requests for comments. The Belgian government, meanwhile, explained that it had been made aware of the matter, but declined to comment further.

According to several Western intelligence sources, who said they knew of the agent's existence, Woo was working for the Ministry of State Security (MSS), or Guoanbu, in Chinese. This vast service – with around 200,000 employees according to one Western intelligence source – is organized into 18 units or "bureaus" responsible for supervising undercover officers, counter-espionage or monitoring Chinese students abroad.

You have 65% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.