China’s top intelligence agency announced on Monday that it had detained the head of a foreign consulting agency for collecting Chinese state secrets as a spy for the British government.
China’s Ministry of State Security announced the arrest of a consultant surnamed Huang, who was collecting China-related information and finding talent on behalf of the British intelligence agency MI6. In a post on its official WeChat account, the ministry said it had recruited and trained Huang, who is from an unspecified “third country” such as the UK. The British government had equipped the man with “special spy equipment,” the ministry wrote.
“After a thorough investigation, the National Security Bureau immediately discovered criminal evidence that Mr. Huang was involved in espionage activities, and took criminal coercive measures against Mr. Huang in accordance with the law,” the Ministry of State Security said. Ta.
According to the post, Hwang provided 14 state secrets and three pieces of information to the British government. The statement did not specify the company Hwang worked for or his nationality.
The agency has previously brought charges against other people allegedly caught spying for the U.S. government over WeChat posts, but this is the first time the Chinese government has publicly accused Britain of spying. It is.
A Foreign Office representative in London declined to comment, citing long-standing practice on intelligence matters, and the British Embassy in Beijing did not respond to a request for comment.
The statement came four months after revelations that a researcher who worked for the British parliament had been arrested on suspicion of spying for the Chinese government. The researcher denies being a spy, but has been working with lawmakers on policy issues regarding China. China’s Foreign Ministry has repeatedly condemned claims that the researcher was part of a growing Chinese spy ring in the UK, calling them “totally baseless”.
Monday’s announcement by the Ministry of State Security was also the latest sign that China is targeting consulting and advisory firms with foreign ties. Last year, there were reports of raids, detentions and arrests at prominent consulting firms, including U.S. companies such as Mintz Group and Bain & Company.
The crackdown appears to be focused on companies that provide hard-to-find information that foreign investors use to assess potential business risks in China before investing. Such information is especially valuable in China, where reliable information is difficult to obtain.
Changes to China’s anti-espionage laws also expanded its already expansive definition of what constitutes a spy. Foreign companies expressed concern that normal business activities, such as gathering information about competitors, markets, and industries, could be subject to espionage.
Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London, said the fact that the suspected spy comes from an industry that China already takes issue with makes the accusations of serious espionage less persuasive. He said this is because people who work for companies that are privately held are convenient targets.
It is difficult to confirm whether this person actually has any ties to British intelligence, as MI6 is unlikely to say anything, and the Chinese side is also unlikely to provide additional evidence to support their claims. It would be nearly impossible to do so, he said.
“If the Chinese really have a case, they need to talk to the British a little more publicly and privately,” Tsang said. “If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be taken very seriously.””
claire fu and mark landler Contributed to the report.