What we told
For at least three years, from 2019 to 2022, a Chinese spy regularly communicated with Frank Creyelman, a former Belgian MP (2007-2014). According to hundreds of messages obtained by Der Spiegel, THE Financial Times And The world, the intelligence officer, who calls himself Daniel Wooasks this member of Vlaams Belang (VB, Flemish far-right party) to collect confidential information, approach potential sources and transmit elements of language in favor of Chinese power.
The agent of the Zhejiang State Security Department, a provincial version of the Ministry of State Security, Beijing’s main intelligence service, intends in particular to influence the European position on the Covid-19 pandemic, the oppressed minority of the Uighurs and the pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong. For these various missions, Daniel Woo invites Frank Creyelman to a seaside resort in southern China, all expenses paid, and pays him in cryptocurrency.
In return, the politician with public opinions oriented pro-Russia and pro-China takes advantage of his network within European and Belgian institutions: certain messages from the Chinese spy are transmitted to his brother, Steven Creyelman, MP (VB ) in the Belgian Parliament since 2019, who then presents them to other elected officials, almost word for word. In 2022, a little before the visits of President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to China, in a text message to Frank Creyelman, Daniel Woo summarizes one of the objectives of his influence operation in Europe: “We would like to make the United States sick. »
What has happened since
A few hours after these revelations, on December 15, 2023, Frank Creyelman was excluded from the VB by the party leadership. Questioned about this foreign interference, the Belgian authorities claim to have been aware of the contacts between the former elected official and “foreign powers” without being able to pursue it. According to Paul Van Tigchelt, the federal minister of justice, the Belgian penal code only punishes espionage on military matters. “ This scandal highlighted a gap in our legal arsenal, comments Samuel Cogolati, MP for the Ecolo party, by telephone. With the outbreak of the case, the Minister of Justice pushed for the interference to be considered an offense under Belgian law in the coming weeks. »
In parallel with these debates, attention is focused on Steven Creyelman, the brother, Belgian deputy. Once this information was revealed by the press, the latter immediately distanced himself from Frank, denouncing a ” treason ” and calling his brother’s relations with China “disgusting and scandalous”. But, on the basis of other messages exchanged with the Chinese spy, the Belgian press has since established that Steven Creyelman could hardly ignore the privileged links of his elder with Beijing.
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