cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/11115270
Reform UK’s top media presenter has worked for a Chinese state propaganda channel within the past year, the Guardian can reveal.
Ray Addison, who presents the political party’s in-house podcast and social media campaigns, fronted films about Xinjiang province – where the Chinese government is accused of committing genocide – for state media in September 2025.
In the videos, entitled Raymond’s Xinjiang Stories, some of which praise Chinese infrastructure, Addison described himself as a CGTN correspondent. The series was made after Addison left GB News in 2024, where he had worked as a news presenter and reporter.
Xinjiang province has attracted international attention because of alleged human rights abuses against the region’s Muslim Uyghur population by the Chinese state, including claims of forced labour, sterilisation, re-education and mass surveillance.
…
Addison’s work for China contrasts with the hard line Reform has taken on Chinese issues ranging from industrial relations to suspected Chinese state espionage within Westminster.
In a social media video posted by GB News in January, Nigel Farage said of the UK’s relationship with China: “I’m very, very nervous about the extent to which China has effectively spied on us, stolen many of our industrial secrets. I’m worried about the extent to which they’ve infiltrated, using money, British universities. We must be cautious about the relationship.”
The videos presented by Addison for CGTN are publicly available on YouTube and carry a warning stating that “CGTN is funded in whole or in part by the Chinese government”.
CGTN lost its licence to broadcast in the UK in 2021 after the regulator Ofcom determined it was ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist party.
…
Suella Braverman, [former Home Secretary and Conservative politician and] now a Reform MP, has also made public statements to this effect. On 14 January 2025, before she defected from the Conservative party to Reform, she posted on X: “China is committing genocide in Xinjiang, funding Putin’s war of aggression in Europe and has committed acts of cyber-terrorism against the British people.”
Addison is paid by Reform to produce content about the party and creates social media videos as well as presenting its The Reform UK Podcast. In recent days he has fronted the party’s social media promotion of its conference, which is being held in Birmingham.
…
This is the second very interesting link between Chinese interference and the European Far Right I hear of.
The other was that a former politician from Hungarys far-right and Putin-friendly goverment changed jobs to Chinese car maker BYD recently.
And, digging in my memory, I remember earlier warnings from citizen researcher, Byline Times author, and anti-Brexit activist James Patrick - who wrote a book “Alternative War” warning about the hybrid war against Europe - that it is not only Russia which meddles with our democracy.
Number three: staffer of AfD
And among the lesser known incident is Franck Creyelman, a former far-right politician in Belgium.
Among the most prominent figures regarding Chinese interference and the European far-right imho is Alice Weidel, the current leader of the far-right AfD in Germany. Weidel, who studied and lived in China and is fluent in Chinese, has been secretly meeting with then Chinese ambassador to Germany, Wu Keng, between 2019 and 2024. Weidel reportedly admitted these meetings. She said that after the outbreak of the full-scale war in Ukraine - which happened in February 2022 - she wanted to get an idea of the Chinese position.
It is not known whether or not similar meetings are still taking place.
Edit: An interesting view maybe,
Marriage of Convenience: How European Far-Right and Far-Left Discovered China
European far-right and far-left political parties, though ideologically opposed, are finding common ground in their alignments with China, echoing Beijing’s narratives and raising concerns about foreign influence and manipulation.
It’s a good analysis that provides a lot of facts and insight in my opinion.
[Edit typo.]
Because of course he did. Most higher ups of the far right movement are directly tied to China, Russia or MAGA. Of course they would hire someone like this. They hate their own country.
It’s so weird how MAGA, Russia and China seem to align all the time, while at the same time the US position themselves as an adversary to China and Russia.