China has accused the UK’s intelligence agency of recruiting a couple as spies – the latest in a string of tit-for-tat allegations between Beijing and the West in recent months.
According to the Ministry of State Security, the two Chinese government employees were successfully recruited after MI6 operatives exploited the man’s “strong desire for money”.
The man, named as Wang, then convinced his partner, named only as Zhou, to join him as a British spy, the ministry said.
The accusations come weeks after the UK charged two men with spying for China.
The men were accused of giving “articles, notes, documents or information” to a foreign state, while China has called the allegations “malicious slander”.
Earlier this month, a former Royal Marine charged with assisting the Hong Kong intelligence service was found dead in the UK, police there said.
China did not reveal how it uncovered the case involving Mr Wang and Ms Zhou, saying only that it came after a “thorough investigation”.
The case is still under investigation and Chinese officials did not say if the couple would be charged.
The BBC sought a response from the UK government, which said it would neither confirm nor deny claims relating to intelligence matters.
China’s Ministry of State Security alleged that MI6 started cultivating Mr Wang when he was studying in the UK under a Sino-British exchange programme in 2015.
The operatives took “special care” of him in the UK, such as inviting him to dinners and tours to better “understand his interests and weaknesses”, the ministry alleged.
Credit: bbc.com
