Espionage: Beijing announces the arrest of a person employed by the British secret service

2024-01-08T12:34:54.224Z

Highlights: Beijing announces the arrest of a person employed by the British secret service. The case made headlines in China on Monday, January 8. The suspect was reportedly approached by MI6 in 2015 for an intelligence mission. Arrests of "foreign spies" have accelerated since the announcement of the revision of the counterintelligence law in the spring of 2023. The authorities see spies at all levels and state security, which until now has been discreet on the subject, has multiplied its "revelations"

The case made headlines in China on Monday, January 8. China's state security has announced that it has unmasked and arrested a foreign consultant suspected of working for the intelligence services...

Espionage: Beijing announces the arrest of a person employed by the British secret service

The case made headlines in China on Monday, January 8. China's state security has announced that it has unmasked and arrested a foreign consultant suspected of working for the British intelligence services.

China's state security has announced that it has unmasked and arrested a foreign consultant suspected of working for the British intelligence services. REUTERS - POOL New

By: RFI Follow

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With our correspondent in Beijing, Stéphane Lagarde

It is once again an employee of a foreign consulting firm who is targeted in this case, described as "espionage" by the official Chinese press. The consultant from a "third country" is suspected of having been employed by the British services to conduct research on a sector labelled "national security" by the authorities and to recruit contacts in China.

Fourteen State Secrets

The official statement did not specify which "third country" it was, nor which industry was involved, but accused the alleged spy of providing state secrets to the UK. Nicknamed "Huang", the suspect was reportedly approached by MI6 in 2015 for an intelligence mission. "After a thorough investigation, the National Security Agency quickly uncovered criminal evidence that Huang provided the British side with nine top-secret state secrets, five confidential-level state secrets, and three pieces of intelligence," Beijing News said.

Spies on every floor

This is not the first time that London and Beijing have clashed over this issue. Arrests of "foreign spies" have accelerated since the announcement of the revision of the counterintelligence law in the spring of 2023. The authorities see spies at all levels and state security, which until now has been discreet on the subject, has multiplied its "revelations", going so far as to denounce the use of weather stations for surveillance and espionage purposes. Suspected of working for the Americans or the Japanese and now for the British, all have been accused of entering the expanded list of activities that can now be considered espionage.

Espionage: Beijing announces the arrest of a person employed by the British secret service

Espionage: Beijing announces the arrest of a person employed by the British secret service

Fourteen State Secrets

Spies on every floor

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