An alleged spy working for MI6 was revealed by China's security service on social media yesterday.
China's Ministry of State Security accused British spies of ordering a foreigner to carry out espionage in China under the guise of working as the head of a foreign consultancy firm.
Following the spy scandal in Britain when Christine Lee was identified by MI5 as a communist agent at the heart of Parliament, it is alleged that a foreign national known by the surname Huang was sent to China to collect state secrets for the British intelligence service. .
According to Chinese officials, Britain's Secret Intelligence Service sent him several times to “China with instructions to use their public profile as a cover to gather China-related intelligence for Britain… and find other personnel who could engage MI6.” It alleged that Mr Huang was tapped by MI6 in 2015 and used his position at an unnamed foreign consultancy to gather China-related intelligence.
In a WeChat post, the ministry claimed Huang passed 17 pieces of intelligence, including confidential state secrets, to MI6 before he was identified.
Following the spy scandal in Britain when Christine Lee was identified by MI5 as a communist agent at the heart of Parliament, it is alleged that a foreign national known by the surname Huang was sent to China to collect state secrets for the British intelligence service. (File photo)
He also received “professional intelligence training” in Britain and had used “specialist spy equipment” to transmit communications in a so-called “intelligence cooperative relationship”, it was said.
But China said an investigation “immediately discovered criminal evidence that Huang was involved in espionage activities and took criminal coercive measures in accordance with the law.”
The ministry statement revealed by Reuters did not mention Huang's first name, employer or whereabouts, but if true, the details could be enough to blow his cover.
The decision to publicly reveal the surname of an alleged agent will be seen by some as revenge for Britain's hardened stance against foreign spies trying to infiltrate British politics.
China and Britain have traded blows in recent months over spying allegations.
Chinese lawyer Christine Lee, 59, is currently suing MI5, claiming the security service ruined her life by sending a notice to MPs in 2022 warning that she was engaging in 'political interference' by donating to 'political parties , parliamentarians, aspiring parliamentarians' on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.
China alleged that Mr Huang was wiretapped by MI6 in 2015 and used his position at an unnamed foreign consultancy to gather China-related intelligence (File Photo)
In a similar vein to the last case involving a foreign consultancy firm, Lee had worked as a consultant at the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, an agency of the Communist Party's influence network, supervised by the United Front Work Department.
In an unrelated case, Scotland Yard last year arrested a British citizen who worked as a parliamentary researcher in Westminster and was accused of spying for China.
The man in his 20s was arrested in Edinburgh last March under the Official Secrets Act, along with another man in his 30s, who was being held in Oxfordshire.
A file of evidence has now been handed over to the Crown Prosecution Service to assess the charges.
China has repeatedly condemned the arrests, with a Foreign Ministry spokesperson saying they were “completely unfounded.”
But British spy chiefs have recently warned about China's increasingly aggressive attempts to steal British secrets.
In October, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said MI5 and police were committed to bringing criminal charges against Chinese spies working covertly in Britain.
“We are now in a different world than the one we have all lived in since the end of the Cold War,” he said.
In October, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said MI5 and police were determined to bring criminal charges against Chinese spies working covertly in Britain (File Photo)
'Authoritarian states behave much more aggressively.' Meanwhile, China has cracked down on perceived threats to its own national security.
Last year it expanded counterintelligence laws to give authorities more leeway in punishing vaguely defined threats to national security.
China has disclosed several other alleged espionage cases in recent months.
In May, authorities sentenced 78-year-old US citizen John Shing-wan Leung to life in prison for espionage.
In October, the Ministry of Security published the story of another alleged spy, surnamed Hou, who was accused of sending several classified and classified documents to the US.
The Foreign Office yesterday declined to comment on the claims.