China and Britain have traded barbs in recent months over allegations of perceived espionage and its resulting impact on national security.
This month, Beijing said the head of a foreign consultancy had been found to be spying for Britain’s MI6 intelligence service.
The Ministry of State Security said in a WeChat post that Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service – also known as MI6 – used a foreign national with the surname Huang to establish an “intelligence cooperation relationship”.
And Britain has in turn warned that Chinese spies are increasingly targeting officials, allegations that Beijing has denied.
A researcher at the British parliament was arrested last year under the Official Secrets Act and subsequently denied spying for Beijing.
SPY GAMES
China, which has a broad definition of state secrets, has publicised several other alleged spying cases.
In May, authorities sentenced 78-year-old American citizen John Shing-wan Leung to life in prison for espionage.
And in October, the MSS published the story of another alleged spy, surnamed Hou, who was accused of sending several secret and classified documents to the US.
China last year also conducted raids on a string of big-name consulting, research and due diligence firms.
Last May, China said it had raided the offices of US consultancy firm Capvision in order to safeguard its “national security and development interests”.
Beijing also questioned staff at the Shanghai branch of another American consultancy, Bain, in April.
And authorities detained workers and shuttered a Beijing office belonging to US-based due diligence firm Mintz Group in March.
The US government and its chambers of commerce warned that the raids damage investor confidence and the operations of foreign businesses in China.
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