Martin Shipton gets his passport back from ‘China espionage’ police

Nation.Cymru’s associate editor Martin Shipton has had his passport returned to him by counter-terrorism police investigating allegations of spying for China against three political advisers from Wales.

Two weeks ago an eight-strong squad from the Metropolitan Police smashed their way into Shipton’s Cardiff home after an Old Bailey judge signed a search warrant authorising the dawn raid.

Mr Shipton was not arrested, but police seized his passport, mobile phone and laptops as part of their inquiry into the espionage allegations.

At first unaware of what the raid was about, he wrote an article for Nation.Cymru after it was revealed that David Taylor, a former special adviser to ex-Secretary of State for Wales Peter Hain who now works as an international political consultant, was one of the three men arrested.

The other two were Steve Jones, a former special adviser to ex-First Minister Carwyn Jones, and Matt Aplin, a former press officer for the then National Assembly’s Labour group.

Mr Shipton wrote about an expenses-paid trip he took with Taylor in 2023 to Hong Kong, where they met with a representative of a think tank that advised President Xi of China. He insists that nothing occurred of a criminal nature and that discussions which took place were anodyne, concentrating on the perception of China in the UK. Most of the trip was a sightseeing tour, with Shipton – the only one of the three who had visited Hong Kong before – acting as the de facto tourist guide.

Taylor, Jones and Aplin were released on police bail until May, while the investigation continues. Taylor is married to Scottish Labour MP Joanie Reid, who has suspended herself from the party because of the inquiry. Following Taylor’s arrest, Reid said in a statement that she was “not part of” her husband’s business activities and she had never seen anything to make her suspect he had “broken any law”.

Taylor, Jones and Aplin have been accused of assisting a foreign intelligence service under section three of the National Security Act, which was introduced in 2023 to target suspects accused of working against UK interests, the police said following their arrests.

In his article for Nation.Cymru, Mr Shipton wrote: “The knowledge of [Taylor’s] arrest was transformational for me in the short term. From finding myself in a Kafkaesque nightmare where I was unaware of what was going on, my mind took me back three years to a trip when I accompanied David Taylor to Hong Kong.

“He told me he had been contacted by a Chinese think tank based in Shanghai that advised President Xi on international relations. They wanted to set up a briefing in Hong Kong on attitudes towards China in the UK, and had asked him to bring another “expert” along too.

“He asked me to go with him. It was an expenses-paid trip. It was taking place in Hong Kong rather than Shanghai because post-Covid restrictions were still in place on the Chinese mainland. I saw it as an interesting “jolly” and agreed to go.

“The trip lasted around a week, although ‘Michael’, the think tank guy from Shanghai, turned up late.

“Far from being an intensive, policy-rich series of meetings, the trip was more of a tourist visit. As the only one of the three of us who had visited Hong Kong before, I became the de facto tourist guide.

“We visited a Buddhist Temple, watched a renowned fire show from Kowloon looking across the water to Hong Kong Island, went to a museum telling the story of the former colony and visited several restaurants (we had to steer him to Chinese restaurants rather than American chains like Subway and KFC, which he made it clear he would prefer).

“The talk was pretty general, with Michael happy to listen to what we had to say rather than ask penetrating questions of the kind one might expect of a think tank. A colleague of his who was supposed to show up never, in fact, did so.

“At no stage did it occur to me that anything criminal was taking place. I mentioned how there was concern in the West about the treatment of the Uighurs, a Muslim minority in western China. I also said there were doubtless trading opportunities that could develop further between the UK and China.

“Pretty general stuff and nothing that could be construed as constituting ‘espionage’ in any sense.

Voluntary statement

He gave a voluntary statement to the investigating officers, telling them about the trip to Hong Kong in 2023.

Shipton ended his article: “Finally, I would rather like to have my passport back so I can attend with my wife and daughter a long-anticipated concert of Christy Moore in Dublin in two weeks time.”

Back in possession of his passport, he will be able to go to the concert after all.

He said: “I am enormously grateful for the representation I am having from my union, the National Union of Journalists. Particular thanks go to General Secretary Laura Davison.

“Thanks to the union, I am getting excellent advice and representation from Bindmans, a solicitors’ practice that specialises in human rights cases.

“For the moment, I am delighted to be able to attend the Christy Moore concert, which I have been looking forward to since buying the tickets last year.

“I have been an enormous fan of his for decades, not least because of his commitment to social justice, and it is great that he is still going strong at the age of nearly 81.”