Sinister spy hysteria risks poisoning UK-China relations

The decision by Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to drop charges brought under the Official Secrets Act 1911 against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, far from drawing a line under the matter, has seen the country become engulfed in a wave of spy hysteria and mania redolent of the worst features of the US McCarthyite persecution in the 1950s. Whilst the script seems to owe more to Slow Horses than George Smiley, being rich in farcical ineptitude and improbable story lines, it is no less sinister for that.

For the unfortunate Cash and Berry, the always hypocritical claim that under the British justice system a person is ‘innocent until proven guilty’ has become a case of being ‘guilty despite being proven innocent’. Meanwhile, we see blatant acts of political interference by figures such as Ken McCallum, Director General of MI5, the Security Service, and blatant acts of political interference in the judicial process by figures in both the government and opposition parties. And whilst on the part of at least some players – certainly including the Conservative Party and the right wing press – the target of this campaign seems at times to be as much the Labour government as it is China, Starmer and members of his hapless and utterly mediocre administration are typically only capable of responding with a toxic cocktail of capitulation, disingenuity, incompetence, pusillanimity, counter-accusation and hypocrisy, serving only to perpetuate and compound their own deepening crisis, not to mention undermining the basis for stable, rational and mutually beneficial UK-China relations.

On October 16, the Spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in London responded to what it described as the “hype” over the issue, specifically the release of three CPS “witness statements”, a highly unusual move occasioned by an all too usual Starmer ‘u-turn’, and the trading of accusations by the Labour and Conservative parties, emphasising that the statements “are nothing but sheer fabrications made out of thin air.” The spokesperson added that:

“The attempt by some British politicians to smear China is doomed to fail. We urge the relevant parties in the UK to stop making an issue of China at every turn, stop hyping up anti-China narratives, and stop undermining China-UK relations.”

The same day, at the regular Foreign Ministry press conference in Beijing, spokesperson Lin Jian was asked several questions related to China-UK relations and responded to one from Bloomberg by stating: “The accusations are nothing but smears. We urge relevant personnel in the UK to stop their vilification and stop this kind of political manipulation.”

In a further post on the Chinese Embassy website the same day, the spokesperson responded to the provocative remarks made by the head of MI5, stating: “China does not pose a threat to any country, and has neither the intention nor the interest to interfere in the UK’s internal affairs. The UK’s intelligence agencies should focus on real security threats facing their own country rather than concoct and spread disinformation about China for ulterior political motives. Such actions are irresponsible and unprofessional. They will only further damage the credibility of the UK’s intelligence agencies.”

Amidst this atmosphere of growing and irrational hysteria, it was almost inevitable that new Housing Minister Steve Reed would yet again postpone a decision on planning permission for the new site of the Chinese Embassy, something that has been a political football for a number of years now, from 21 October to 10 December.

The Embassy Spokesperson stated: “We strongly deplore the UK’s repeated postponement of the approval deadline for the new Chinese Embassy project.

“It is an international obligation of the host country to provide support and facilitation for the construction of diplomatic premises. Both China and the UK have plans to build new embassies in each other’s capitals, and both sides should facilitate each other’s efforts.”

At the October 17 Foreign Ministry press conference, Lin Jian responded, again to Bloomberg, with remarks that appear to, not unreasonably, indicate a growing exasperation on the part of China:

“China expresses strong concern and opposition to the UK’s latest decision on the new Chinese embassy project, which has been put off by the UK for seven years. In the recent rounds of communication between the two sides for the early approval of the project, China has shown utmost sincerity and patience, while the UK over the years has shown a total lack of the spirit of contract, credibility and ethics, and has repeatedly put off the approval of the project citing various excuses and linked the project with other issues, constantly complicating and politicising the matter. That goes entirely against the UK’s commitments and previous remarks about improving China-UK relations. We once again call on the UK to fulfill its obligation and honor its commitments at once, otherwise the consequences arising therefrom shall be borne by the UK side.”

In its editorial for October 15, the Morning Star described the whole affair as “a concocted controversy to shackle us to Trump” and noted that Cash and Berry, “have not even been afforded a trial by media: instead, the right-wing press, the Tory Party and even the Labour government have hurled themselves into a blame game in which their guilt is assumed and only the failure to jail them needs explaining.”

It adds: “The media storm is not really about the men in question. It is an attempt to derail any improvement in Britain-China relations, and is wholly political… This is a concerted political offensive designed to shackle Britain ever more closely to Donald Trump’s United States. Some hint at this openly, warning Labour that the White House will look askance if it hesitates to denounce Beijing.”

The same angle was also analysed in an article carried in the Chinese newspaper Global Times on 12 October, citing British media reports that, “the White House has sent a warning to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, claiming that Britain’s failure to prosecute the two alleged ‘China spies’ risks damaging their special relationship and jeopardising intelligence sharing between London and Washington.”

The paper quotes Cui Hongjian, a leading Chinese scholar of international relations, as pointing out that the US is forcing the UK to make a binary choice between the “special relationship with the US” and “improving relations with China,” which is, in essence, a threat to the UK’s policy autonomy.

Earlier, on 7 October, in his Opinion column in the South China Morning Post, Alex Lo analysed both the UK case and recent attacks on the Chinese community in Canada, writing:

“Both cases in the UK and Canada have many similarities. The security services in both countries pushed for them with flimsy evidence and went public with their allegations, effectively imputing guilt in the mind of the public. And anti-China politicians in both countries jumped on the bandwagon, thereby helping to build up momentum before anyone could or dare to challenge the basis of their charges or allegations.”

Regarding the British case, Alex notes: “The latest row over the case stems less from the alleged intelligence breach or its sudden collapse but more from the infighting between the Starmer cabinet and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on the one hand, and MI5 and the Home Office, both of which are under the Home Secretary.

“Without even bothering to hide it, officials from MI5 and/or the Home Office appear to be providing background briefings to such outlets as the Financial Times, Sunday Times and The Telegraph, among others.”

The following articles were originally published on the website of the Chinese Embassy in London and by the Morning Star, Global Times and the South China Morning Post. The latter is republished with the kind permission of the author.

Embassy Spokesperson on the UK’s Hype over the So-called “China Spy Case”

October 16 (Embassy of China in the UK) – Question: For some time now, there has been repeated hype in the UK about the collapse of the so-called “China spy case”. The UK government said that it was disappointed by the CPS’ decision to drop the charges, and released three “witness statements” yesterday. There has also been finger-pointing between the government and opposition parties. What is your comment?

Embassy Spokesperson: We have emphasised from the outset that the allegation about China instructing the relevant British individuals to “steal British intelligence” is pure fabrication and malicious slander, which we firmly reject.

The so-called “witness statements” released after the CPS dropped the case are rife with unfounded accusations against China. They are nothing but sheer fabrications made out of thin air. We strongly condemn such acts.

China never interferes in other countries’ internal affairs and always acts in an open and aboveboard manner. As a Chinese saying goes, ”While the superior man is at ease with himself, the inferior man is always anxious.” The attempt by some British politicians to smear China is doomed to fail.

We urge the relevant parties in the UK to stop making an issue of China at every turn, stop hyping up anti-China narratives, and stop undermining China-UK relations.

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Embassy Spokesperson on Erroneous Remarks by Head of UK Intelligence Agency about China

October 16 (Embassy of China in the UK) – Question: It is reported that MI5 chief Ken McCallum claimed in the agency’s annual threat update that the UK faces daily security threats from state actors, and continued to hype up alleged Chinese espionage and cyberattacks against the UK. What is your comment? 

Embassy Spokesperson: The remarks made by the UK official concerning China are completely fabricated and irresponsible. China firmly opposes and strongly condemns such comments. 

China always follows the principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs. China does not pose a threat to any country, and has neither the intention nor the interest to interfere in the UK’s internal affairs. The UK’s intelligence agencies should focus on real security threats facing their own country rather than concoct and spread disinformation about China for ulterior political motives. Such actions are irresponsible and unprofessional. They will only further damage the credibility of the UK’s intelligence agencies. 

We urge the UK officials to stop making groundless accusations against China, stop hyping up the so-called “China threat”, and stop undermining China–UK relations.

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Embassy Spokesperson on the New Chinese Embassy Project

October 16 (Embassy of China in the UK) – Question: It is reported that the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has decided to further postpone the decision on the planning application for the new Chinese Embassy from 21 October to 10 December. What is China’s comment? 

Embassy Spokesperson: We strongly deplore the UK’s repeated postponement of the approval deadline for the new Chinese Embassy project. 

The development scheme of the new Chinese Embassy is of high quality and has been highly recognised by local professional bodies. The application complies with diplomatic practice and local regulations and procedures. The UK’s repeated delay in approving the application is groundless and unjustifiable. 

It is an international obligation of the host country to provide support and facilitation for the construction of diplomatic premises. Both China and the UK have plans to build new embassies in each other’s capitals, and both sides should facilitate each other’s efforts. We once again urge the UK to demonstrate sincerity in resolving the issue and approve China’s planning application at an early date.

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The China spy saga – a concocted controversy to shackle us to Trump

October 15 (Morning Star) – “Innocent until proven guilty.” A quaint old phrase increasingly disdained by the British media — especially over anything concerning China.

When prosecutors dropped charges against two luckless men accused of spying for China last month, they said it was because there wasn’t enough evidence to take the case to trial.

Both have always maintained their innocence; the collapse of their trial due to insufficient evidence against them might be argued to support that. But not in British public life, where they have not even been afforded a trial by media: instead, the right-wing press, the Tory Party and even the Labour government have hurled themselves into a blame game in which their guilt is assumed and only the failure to jail them needs explaining.

It’s a familiar story. If you can’t prove anything against someone accused of ties to Beijing, it’s always the system not the evidence at fault. We saw it with the lawyer Christine Lee, when MI5 briefed the press despondently that “the laws were not in place” to prosecute her (ie, she did nothing illegal). And again last winter, when the Telegraph kicked up a fuss over the government employing a freelance interpreter whom it acknowledged had “not been accused of criminality or wrongdoing” but who was said to run pro-Chinese websites.

The media storm is not really about the men in question. It is an attempt to derail any improvement in Britain-China relations, and is wholly political.

Hence the furore over whether the trial collapsed because the government refused to name China as an “enemy,” the goal of the frenzied op eds and Tory Party broadsides being to force it to do just that.

After all fear of China stealing British secrets is a bit archaic, given its clear technological lead over us whether it comes to green energy, robotics or artificial intelligence. Perhaps why the pair were only accused of passing on “politically sensitive” information.

Declaring China an enemy has obvious drawbacks: alienating the world’s second-biggest economy when the government is desperate for investment in Britain’s sluggish one, and for markets for British products; reducing the scope for scientific co-operation with the world leader in multiple fields, including those essential to addressing climate change; taking the road toward confrontation and possible war.

Cheerleaders for this reckless course say none of this matters. In fact, burning bridges is the point. This is a concerted political offensive designed to shackle Britain ever more closely to Donald Trump’s United States. Some hint at this openly, warning Labour that the White House will look askance if it hesitates to denounce Beijing.

Our increasingly Trumpian right don’t care about green technologies — like their icon in Washington they deny the need to act on global warming. So what if China won’t invest or buy our products — these parasites have no interest in the productive economy anyway. US corporations are ready and willing to buy up our public services and erect water- and energy-greedy data centres the length and breadth of Britain.

Like Trump’s own, their vision is so short sighted it approaches nihilism. The man in the Oval Office stands for climate denialism, might-is-right lawlessness as seen in its bombing of Venezuelan waters and endorsement of genocide in Gaza, bigotry at home and thuggish, gun-to-the-head “deal-making” abroad.

That is what we are being asked to embrace as our future by turning our backs on China, which is why we all, whatever our attitude to Beijing, should call out this propaganda campaign for what it is.

China is not a threat to our country’s security. The United States is a threat to the world’s.

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White House reportedly attempts to warn London over dropping so-called ‘China spy’ case; observer criticizes move as potentially interfering other’s judicial independence

October 12 (Global Times) – Although UK judicial authorities have dropped the so-called “China spy case” – a clear demonstration of the allegations being pure fabrication, British media revealed on Sunday that the White House has sent a warning to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, claiming that Britain’s failure to prosecute the two alleged “China spies” risks damaging their special relationship and jeopardizing intelligence sharing between London and Washington.

According to reports, the two British nationals, Christopher Berry and Christopher Cash, were arrested in March 2023 on so-called accusations of providing information prejudicial to the interests of the state in breach of the Official Secrets Act. Cash worked as a parliamentary researcher and was director of the China Research Group, while Berry had previously worked in China. Their case was dropped because the evidence gathered did not meet the threshold to go to trial.

In response to allegations over the so-called “China spies,” Guo Jiakun, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, stated on Thursday at a press conference that “now that the UK judicial authorities have dropped the case, it is all the more evident that the so-called ‘spying for China’ allegation is pure fabrication.”

China firmly opposes narratives that peddle “spying activities” and the “China threat” theory to vilify China, and we urge some in the UK to avoid being paranoid, Guo said.

Despite the case has been dropped, the hype surrounding it is not over.

The BBC, the Sunday Times and GB News covered the latest developments on Sunday. According to the Sunday Times, the White House claimed that the collapse of the case “risks undermining the special relationship” between the UK and US. A senior White House official was quoted by the Sunday Times asserting that the US exercises “extreme caution in sharing information with foreign governments subject to adversarial coercion and influence.”

The BBC previously reported on October 6 that Downing Street strongly denied that the government was involved in the collapse of the prosecution against the two men accused of spying for China.

According to the BBC, Number 10’s press secretary said “the suggestion that the government withheld evidence, withdrew witnesses or restricted the ability of a witness to draw on a particular bit of evidence are all untrue.”

The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said that the case collapsed after the government refused to provide evidence that China was a threat to UK national security, the Financial Times reported on October 7.

After a more than two-year investigation into the “China spy case,” some American and British anti-China forces still refuse to accept the verdict, revealing that, for them, the truth takes a backseat to advancing their China-bashing agenda, some Chinese experts remarked.

If the latest British media reports are true, the US has threatened the UK by leveraging the “special relationship” and “intelligence sharing” between the two countries, in an attempt to interfere with the judicial independence of another country, which exposes that the US has not abandoned its mindset of containing and suppressing China, Cui Hongjian, director of the Department of European Studies, China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Sunday.

The US is forcing the UK to make a binary choice between the “special relationship with the US” and “improving relations with China,” which is, in essence, a threat to the UK’s policy autonomy, Cui pointed out.

According to the expert, the UK Labour government has demonstrated a willingness to adjust its China policy and improve bilateral relations.

The Sunday Times reported that in a meeting last month, national security adviser Jonathan Powell revealed the government’s evidence would be based on the national security strategy, which was published in June and does not refer to China as an “enemy.”

Cui said that London needs to weigh its options in a complex environment: whether to withstand the pressure and adhere to a China policy that aligns with British interests, or to reluctantly sacrifice the interests of China-UK relations to meet unilateral US demands.

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How anti-China witch-hunts in Canada and the UK ruin lives

October 7 (SCMP) – The sudden collapse of a British Crown case against two alleged spies for China sounds like a story straight out of the current dark comedy series Slow Horses, about incompetent spooks from MI5, the country’s domestic intelligence service.

Meanwhile, a senator of Chinese heritage is demanding an apology from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Canadian equivalent of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and restitution for two community groups in Montreal that were absurdly accused of operating “Chinese police stations”, those mythical entities that Chinese security agents and their moles supposedly operate across Canada.

Both cases in the UK and Canada have many similarities. The security services in both countries pushed for them with flimsy evidence and went public with their allegations, effectively imputing guilt in the mind of the public. And anti-China politicians in both countries jumped on the bandwagon, thereby helping to build up momentum before anyone could or dare to challenge the basis of their charges or allegations.

Last month, Canadian news media reported that the RCMP had shut down a probe into the Service à la Famille Chinoise du Grand Montréal, and the Centre Sino-Québec de la Rive-Sud. No charges would be laid.

In an official statement to the news station CTV, the RCMP confirmed: “We have closed the foreign interference investigation into alleged illicit activities reported in connection with Chinese diaspora service centres in the Montreal area. Due to ongoing legal proceedings, we are unable to comment in greater detail.”

The “ongoing proceedings” refer to a lawsuit filed by the two ethnic community groups and Brossard city councillor Xixi Li, who is associated with both groups, against the RCMP and the mayor of Brossard for defamation and seeking more than C$4.9 million (HK$27.3 million) in damages.

Li, a community social worker, said she had been physically attacked and insulted in public. She said during the whole ordeal, the RCMP never once approached or interviewed her, despite the public allegations.

The Chinatown Round Table in Montreal, which represents the local ethnic Chinese community, and Senator Woo Yuen Pau, an independent, have demanded an explanation and a formal apology.

The ordeal of the two Montreal groups started shortly after a Spanish human rights group, Safeguard Defenders, alleged in 2022 that China was running more than 100 “police stations” in over 50 countries, including Canada.

Riding on lingering public outrage over China’s detention of two Canadians in response to the country’s house arrest of then Huawei No 2 and company founder’s daughter Meng Wanzhou for a failed US extradition attempt, the RCMP opened their own investigation, targeting among others, the two Montreal community groups.

But just as quickly, in April 2023, the RCMP said it had shut down all “Chinese police stations” in Canada, leading some critics to question just how many of those stations actually existed, if any. However, it appeared its probe into the two Montreal groups continued for some time.

At roughly the same time last month, across the Atlantic, Crown prosecutors dropped charges against two British men, Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, who had been accused of spying for China under the Official Secrets Act. They were accused of gathering and providing information “prejudicial to the safety and interests of the state” between late December 2021 and April 2024.

Cash was a researcher at the Conservative Party’s China Research Group (CRG), whose sinophobic work is mostly propaganda for public consumption, so it’s hard to see how many valuable secrets Cash could have obtained.

The BBC reported that his coworkers at the CRG had “expressed disbelief” at his arrest, but CRG chairman and Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, and CRG member and fellow Tory MP Alicia Kearns were among the first to throw him under the bus. Both are now claiming the Labour government of Keir Starmer deliberately scuppered the prosecution’s case.

Kearns used to accuse China of threatening her safety and that of her family, and unsuccessfully demanded extra official protection.

The equally unfortunate Berry once worked as a teacher in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, where he provided several written reports allegedly to a Chinese spook called “Alex” – not yours truly.

Berry’s lawyer James Mulholland KC told the court “Alex” was no more than an employee for a Chinese company “keen to engage in trade with the UK”. Moreover, he argued, “the information in the reports was freely available on the internet and of the type that parliamentary bloggers regularly upload”.

It’s obvious by now that the case against the two men collapsed because of insufficient evidence.

The latest row over the case stems less from the alleged intelligence breach or its sudden collapse but more from the infighting between the Starmer cabinet and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on the one hand, and MI5 and the Home Office, both of which are under the home secretary.

Without even bothering to hide it, officials from MI5 and/or the Home Office appear to be providing background briefings to such outlets as the Financial Times, Sunday Times and The Telegraph, among others.

They claim the case collapsed only because the Starmer government refused to provide a key witness, deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins, whose testimony that China is an “enemy” state was crucial to the Crown’s case.

But, commenting on Substack, Joshua Rozenberg KC, who is not involved in the case, wrote: “Tom Little KC, for the prosecution, told the court that the ‘evidential threshold’ could no longer be met. Why was that not the case when charges were authorised?

“The director of public prosecutions seemed to hint that dropping the charges might have had something to do with the fact that China is not considered an ‘enemy’ state. But China’s status has not changed since charges were authorised. And there was never any need under the Official Secrets Act to prove the friendliness or otherwise of a specific intelligence recipient.”

In any case, no British government, Tory or Labour, has ever classified China as an “enemy state”. The more recently amended Official Secrets Act no longer cites “enemy”.

Rozenberg continues: “Convictions based on evidence from the Security Service must be rather more challenging now that MI5 can no longer be relied on to tell the truth in court.”