Photo Credit: BBC
A parliamentary researcher, Christopher Cash, was charged under the Official Secrets Act. Cash and another man, Christopher Berry, have been charged with spying for China after allegedly providing information which could be "useful to an enemy".
They are accused of giving "articles, notes, documents or information" to a foreign state, the Met Police said.
China has called the allegations "malicious slander". Counter-terrorism police have described the allegations as "very serious".
32-year-old Mr Berry, from Witney in Oxfordshire, and 29-year-old Mr Cash, of Whitechapel, London, were arrested last March in connection with the investigation. After their arrest ,both men were subsequently released on police bail while the investigation continued and a case file was passed to the CPS for consideration in late 2023, police said.
Their charge states that "for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state, obtained, collected, recorded, published, or communicated to any other person articles, notes, documents or information, which were calculated to be, might be, or were intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy".
It was previously reported that Mr Cash was a parliamentary researcher involved with the China Research Group, and who is understood to have had access to several Conservative MPs.
The offenses Mr Cash is alleged to have committed are claimed to have happened between 20 January 2022 and 3 February 2023, while those against Mr Berry are alleged to have happened between 28 December 2021 and 3 February 2023.
The spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy said: "I would like to reaffirm that the claim that China is suspected of 'stealing British intelligence' is completely fabricated and nothing but malicious slander. We firmly oppose it and urge the UK side to stop anti-China political manipulation and stop putting on such self-staged political farce."
"As this matter is now sub judice it is essential that neither I, nor anyone else, say anything that might prejudice a criminal trial relating to a matter of national security," she posted on X.
The two men have been bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday 26 April.
Lewis Musonye
