The chief legal counsel at the Free Speech Union (FSU) has claimed he was targeted by Chinese spies posing as researchers.
Bryn Harris has alleged he was the victim of a China capture campaign, after receiving emails from individuals with Chinese names who claimed to be computer and AI researchers.
Joining GB News, Mr Harris said: "It was certainly a rather strange and unexpected experience.
"It all happened this year, starting in the summer, with these wholly unexpected emails from people with Chinese names, very interested in some of the parliamentary work that I've done for the Free Speech Union.
"That's to say, giving evidence to a committee on the Higher Education Freedom of Speech Bill. That in itself set off some alarm bells.
Part of the Act is to attempt to crack down on Chinese censorship across English universities, with Mr Harris adding he found the experience a "bit odd".
He said that "sloppy tradecraft" was a giveaway, sending emails from abnormal accounts as well as large American companies.
Additionally, the "heavy-handed flattery" in the correspondence contributed to his suspicion.
The leading researcher explained the FSU was now more 'mindful' of the potential attacks
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He continued: "There's no certainty that these people, three in total, were indeed working for the Chinese state. It certainly seems a good guess.
"But of course, that's one of the insidious things of of the many people who are targeted in this way that you can't be sure you don't know who they are and you don't know what they're after.
"So there is a certain insidious uncertainty."
Mr Harris explained his unsettled feeling, insisting the FSU were not "people who stalk the corridors of power".
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Mr Harris joined Charlie Peters to tell his story
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"I did kind of feel, 'why me? Why do you come to me? I never meant to cause you any trouble in China.' I'm not exactly an agitator.
"What was interesting, I got to work with some very interesting people, especially at UK-China Transparency, a charity that specialises in this.
"It did feel a little bit like I was being pulled quite far out of my comfort zone as a free speech campaigner."
The FSU has become more "mindful" of such incidents as a result of Mr Harris' experience, he said, with a great portion of the organisation's work addressing matters of free speech across universities.
"The Free Speech Union has helped academics who have spoken out against China and been sanctioned as a result.
"But it certainly does make one more aware of the potential malicious actors out there," he warned.
Just a few months back, MI5 warned Westminster workers, from parliamentary staffers to academics, to be wary of Chinese spies creating fake job adverts to lure in the Londoners.
The intelligence agency has grown increasingly concerned over the threat of fake recreuitment consultancies, which have been established by China.
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