China’s top security agency has accused MI6 of recruiting a foreigner to carry out espionage on Chinese territory in the latest spy scandal to shake ties between the two nations.
The Ministry of State Security (MSS) said that Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service had tasked a foreigner, only identified by his surname Huang, to collect secrets and information.
In a post on its WeChat social media account, it alleged Mr Huang was tapped by MI6 in 2015 and had used his position in an unnamed overseas consulting agency to conduct China-related intelligence gathering.
The MSS statement alleged that MI6 instructed Mr Huang to enter China several times and had offered him professional training in the UK and other places.
Espionage equipment
It also provided him with special espionage equipment for intelligence cross-linking, it alleged.
“After careful investigation, the state security organs promptly discovered evidence of Huang’s involvement in espionage activities, and took criminal coercive measures against him,” the statement said, according to Reuters.
The Telegraph contacted the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for comment.
The incident follows a diplomatic spat between Beijing and London in September over accusations that a British national working as a parliamentary researcher in Westminster had been spying for China.
The man in his 20s was arrested last March in Edinburgh under the Official Secrets Act, along with another man, in his 30s, who was detained in Oxfordshire. Both were bailed pending further investigation and it is not known what information they had access to.
The researcher, through his lawyers, protested that he was “completely innocent”. China repeatedly condemned the assertions with a foreign ministry spokesman saying they were “entirely groundless”.
Warning of web of Chinese spies
The British government has warned that a web of Chinese spies are targeting its officials in sensitive positions in politics, defence and business to gain access to secrets.
China has meanwhile been cracking down on perceived threats to its own national security, stepping up efforts to root out spying against its own interests.
Last year it dramatically expanded China’s counter-espionage laws to give authorities more leeway in punishing vaguely-defined threats to national security.
The move sent a chill through global advisory and due diligence firms who have long conducted research for clients mulling investments in China. Several US consultancy giants were raided last year, and their staff questioned.
China has repeatedly warned its citizens of the dangers of getting embroiled in espionage activities and encouraging them to report suspicious activity.
In August, the MSS said on its first ever post on WeChat that a system must be put in place to make it “normal” for the general public to participate in counter-espionage.
The call to popularise anti-spying work followed the expansion of China’s counter-espionage law that took effect in July and which permitted authorities carrying out an anti-espionage probe to gain access to data, electronic equipment and information on personal property.
The MSS on Sunday unveiled its first comic series to promote its work to the younger generation and raise awareness of national security. According to the Global Times, the brightly coloured comic is based on real counter-espionage operations. The first episode features several excerpts where a person of Western appearance is being interrogated for suspected violations of the anti-espionage law.