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China on Monday accused Britain of recruiting a married couple employed by the Chinese central government to spy for its MI6 intelligence service, as the two countries trade allegations of espionage.
Those charges in the United Kingdom came after China’s MSS said in January it had detained the head of a foreign consultancy who had allegedly spied for MI6.
Over the last six months the MSS has made regular public declarations of dismantling foreign spying operations, claims which are impossible to verify given their nature but paint the agency in a positive light and provide regular reminders to Chinese citizens to be wary.
In its latest statement Monday, the MSS detailed its allegations against the married couple.
It said an alleged spy, identified by his surname Wang, was working at a position “with access to core confidential information” in an unnamed central state organ.
In 2015, Wang’s application to study in the UK under an exchange program was “swiftly approved” because MI6 valued his access, according to the MSS.
While studying in Britain, Wang was allegedly invited to meals and tours arranged by MI6 to understand his “character weaknesses and personal interests,” MSS said.
After finding out Wang had “a strong desire for money,” the British spy agency used an alumnus to lure him into a part-time consulting opportunity with high remuneration, MSS said.
“The British side started with open research projects and gradually moved into core internal matters of our central state agencies, paying him a fee significantly higher than normal consulting rates. Although Wang was somewhat wary of this, he continued to provide so-called ‘consulting’ services to the British side under the lure of large sums of money,” the MSS statement said.
After a while, MI6 personnel approached Wang to work for the British government with promises of higher monetary rewards and security guarantees, the MSS alleged.
Wang allegedly agreed to the terms and received espionage training before he was told to return to China to gather intelligence, the statement said.
The MSS claimed MI6 also repeatedly urged Wang to persuade his wife – who worked at a “core” government agency – to join the espionage, offering to double the money. Despite his initial hesitation, Wang and his wife, surnamed Zhou, eventually agreed, MSS alleged.
The case is under further investigation, according to MSS.
