China claims Britain spying on Beijing in effort to embarrass UK, says expert
China has claimed that a foreign national was spying on Beijing for MI6, exacerbating already strained relations between Britain and China.
China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) revealed on its WeChat social media account on Monday that the alleged spy from a “third country”, identified only as Huang, was in charge of an overseas consulting agency, and in 2015, MI6 established an “intelligence cooperative relationship” with that person.
Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at Soas University of London, noted that there was no concrete evidence to confirm Huang is an asset of MI6, let alone an intelligence officer for the British secret service.
The nature of MI6 also means it also cannot confirm or deny the report, he added.
“The release of the news can be done officially to embarrass the UK, but it can also be released because someone in MSS wants to ingratiate oneself to Xi Jinping by claiming that the MSS has taken down an agent or asset of MI6,” Professor Tsang told i.
UK and China relations have grown increasingly sour in recent months with both accusing the other of spying. Notably, a British parliamentary researcher was arrested in September on suspicion of spying for China, an allegation he denies.
Professor Tsang pointed to the Chinese president’s recent interest in keeping US-China relations on a better footing, after Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi declared on Friday that cooperation between the countries was “an imperative that must be seriously addressed”.
“If the MSS is going to pick a great power in order to generate a success story, picking on the UK makes sense,” Professor Tsang said.
The Chinese security ministry claimed M16 instructed Huang to enter China several times, and instructed the individual to use their public identity as a cover to collect China-related intelligence.
MI6 provided Huang with training in the UK and other places and provided special espionage equipment for the exchange of intelligence and communications, the MSS claimed.
The agency did not mention Huang’s full name, gender or nationality, nor did it identify the consulting agency they worked at.
China has been cracking down on foreign consultancy firms over threats of revealing state secrets, saying it has revealed several cases of spying in recent years.
Benedict Rogers, chief executive of UK-based non-profit Hong Kong Watch and an adviser to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said the allegation of UK spying on Beijing “contributes to a more risky and dangerous environment for British citizens doing business in or travelling to China”.
He pointed to how a diplomatic row led to the detention of Canadian nationals Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, who were accused by China of espionage in 2018 and spent nearly three years in Chinese prisons.
“We have seen several other foreigners, including ethnic Chinese foreign nationals, falsely accused and unjustly jailed in China over the years, and with the introduction of a new espionage law last year, which effectively treats corporate due diligence investigations as potentially spying, the situation is becoming more difficult and dangerous,” Mr Rogers told i.
