Guido reported last month that the APPG for Metaverse and Web 3.0, which is run by Baroness Uddin and Khalid Mahmood MP, was backed by the UKIIC, a Chinese front whose stated aim is “upgrading Chinese soft power and global influence“. The APPG has now held an AGM and replaced the dodgy secretariat. The only problem? The replacement is run by the same people. They’re taking the piss with this one…

Guido can reveal that the new secretariat is the “Surrey Academy for Blockchain and Metaverse Applications“, headed up by Professor Yu Xiong, who happens to also be the president of the disgraced Chinese front. UKIIC personnel also feature as members of the new secretariat. The “Academy” was founded with a £1 million donation from Chinese crypto company JKL Capital. It’s no surprise that Surrey University is hosting these characters – Guido seems to remember it signing an extensive exchange agreement with the Chinese, taking a £7.5 million donation from Huawei to fund a “5G/6G Innovation Centre“, and trying to shut down criticism of China’s lockdowns as “microaggressions“. The secretariat speaks at APPG meetings and organises events in Parliament. They’ve got to try harder than that, a sham replacement won’t fool Guido…

With talk of espionage running through Westminster, eyebrows may be raised by the fact that the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Metaverse and Web 3.0, run by Baroness Uddin and Simon Fell, is administered by a Chinese front organisation called the UK International Innovation Center (UKIIC).

The UKIIC acts as the secretariat for the APPG, speaking at its meetings and organising events in Parliament. It states its aims as “providing constructive advice to its China headquarters under the mission of contributing to the country” and “upgrading China’s Soft power and international influence.” It claims to be in an “innovation alliance” with Huawei and works with the University of Reading’s Henley Business School and Huawei Institute of Information and Network Technology. For Huawei, as one door closes another opens…

The organisation recently received a delegation from Hangzhou in China “to explore cooperation in technology innovation between China and the UK” which included CCP officer He Xianzhong, as part of which they signed a “framework agreement” to establish a strategic cooperation relationship and agreed on a follow-up plan for in-depth cooperation. For “soft power influence” read “lobbying” …

UPDATE: The UKIIC has now taken down all of its websites. Time for a rebrand…