China says it has arrested a foreign adviser for spying for Britain
China’s intelligence agency said Monday it had arrested the head of an overseas consultancy for working as a spy for the British government to collect Chinese state secrets.
China’s Ministry of State Security said it had arrested an adviser surnamed Huang, who gathered China-related intelligence and found personnel on behalf of MI6. British intelligence recruited and trained Huang – who is from an unspecified “third country” – in the United Kingdom and other places, the ministry said in a message on its official WeChat account. The British government has equipped the person with ‘special spy equipment’, the ministry writes.
“After careful investigation, the National Security Agency promptly discovered criminal evidence that Huang was involved in espionage activities, and took criminal coercive measures against Huang in accordance with the law,” the Ministry of State Security wrote.
The post stated that Huang had provided the British government with fourteen state secrets and three pieces of intelligence. The statement did not say which company Huang worked for or the person’s nationality.
Although the agency has made allegations in previous WeChat posts about other people caught spying for the US government, this is the first time Beijing has accused the British of espionage in the public forum.
The British Embassy in Beijing did not respond to requests for comment.
The statement came four months after the revelation that a researcher working in the British parliament had been arrested on suspicion of spying for Beijing. The researcher, who has denied being a spy, worked with lawmakers on policy issues about China. China’s Foreign Ministry has repeatedly condemned as “completely baseless” claims that the researcher was part of a growing Chinese spy ring in Britain.
Monday’s announcement by the Ministry of State Security was also the latest sign of China’s targeting of consulting and consulting firms with foreign ties. Last year there were reports of raids, detentions and arrests at leading consulting firms, including US companies such as the Mintz Group and Bain & Company.
The crackdown appeared to focus on companies that provide hard-to-obtain information that foreign investors use to assess potential business risks in China before an investment. Such information is especially valuable in China, where reliable information is difficult to obtain.
Changes in China’s counterintelligence laws have also broadened the law’s already sweeping definition of espionage. Foreign companies expressed concerns that they could be targeted for espionage in connection with normal business practices, such as gathering information about competitors, markets and the industry.
Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London, said the fact that this accused spy came from a sector that China already sees as problematic makes the allegations of serious espionage less convincing, because people who work in such companies are convenient targets .
Whether this person actually has anything to do with the British spy agency will be virtually impossible to confirm as MI6 is unlikely to say anything and the Chinese are unlikely to provide additional evidence to strengthen their case, he said.
“If the Chinese really have a case, they really need to come up with something more, either publicly or privately with the British,” Mr Tsang said. “Otherwise it wouldn’t be taken too seriously.”
Claire Fu reporting contributed.