By Lee Heung Yeung
China’s Ministry for State Security said Monday it has arrested a man surnamed Huang, who heads a foreign consultancy in the country, as an alleged British spy, with one newspaper warning that there are “007s” everywhere in real life.
“Recently, the national security agency uncovered a case in which the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) used personnel from a third country to conduct espionage activities against China,” state news agency Xinhua reported, citing a statement on the ministry’s official WeChat account.
“The overseas national surnamed Huang is head of a foreign consultancy,” it said. “In 2015, the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) developed Huang as part of an intelligence cooperation relationship.”
Huang’s is the latest in a string of arrests of foreign nationals and raids on foreign consultancies that come in the wake of amendments to China’s Counterespionage Law in 2023, which has been criticized by investors for its vague definition of what exactly constitutes espionage.
It also appears to form part of a nationwide campaign to “awaken” China’s citizens to the existence of foreign spies in their everyday lives, according to recent ruling Communist Party propaganda.
“MI6 then instructed Huang to enter China multiple times using his public identity as cover to collect China-related intelligence for British espionage and to identify personnel for MI6 to incite to rebellion,” the report said, accusing the British intelligence services of giving “special spy equipment” to Huang for the purpose.
Huang had given up 12 pieces of evidence showing the leakage of “state secrets” and three other pieces of intelligence, according to the ministry.
He is currently being held under “criminal coercive measures,” acc ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
