Chen Jiacun, a special correspondent of this newspaper in the UK, and Liu Caiyu, a reporter of this newspaper.
China's Ministry of Intelligence announced on January 8 that recently, the Ministry of Intelligence of the United Kingdom (MI6, hereinafter referred to as MI6) used third-country personnel to engage in espionage activities against China. After careful investigation, the ** organ promptly discovered criminal evidence that foreign person Huang XX engaged in espionage activities, and took criminal coercive measures against him in accordance with law. Li Baiyang, an assistant professor of information science at Nanjing University, told the "Global Times" reporter on the 8th that this espionage case once again sounded the alarm that China is facing a serious threat, "We should be wary of the '007' around us, and we should not be naïve to think that this only exists in movies." ”
According to the Ministry of Affairs, Huang is the person in charge of an overseas consulting agency. In 2015, the Sixth Division of British Intelligence developed Huang Moumou and established an "intelligence cooperative relationship". Since then, MI6 has instructed Huang to enter China several times, instructing him to use his public identity as a cover to collect China-related intelligence for British spying and to find personnel for MI6 to rebel. MI6 also conducted professional intelligence training for Huang Moumou in the United Kingdom and other places, and allocated special espionage equipment to report to the first class. After the appraisal of the secrecy department, Huang Moumou provided the British side with 9 secrets, 5 secrets, and 3 intelligence. According to the Ministry of Affairs, during the investigation of the case, the authorities promptly reported and arranged consular visits, which protected Huang's legitimate rights in accordance with the law.
Reuters, the Financial Times, etc. quickly followed up and reported on the matter on the 8th. A number of British media believe that this incident highlights the continued tension between China and the UK due to suspected espionage. In September last year, the United Kingdom hyped up the suspicion of a British parliamentary researcher acting as a spy for China, which had a negative impact on Sino-British relations. At that time, the Chinese Embassy in the UK solemnly responded that the so-called "Chinese espionage" case hyped up by the British side was completely fabricated out of nothing, directed and acted by itself. China's spokesperson also urged the UK to stop spreading disinformation and stop anti-China political manipulation and malicious slander.
The Financial Times reported that at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions, China's Ministry of Advanced Affairs has made more disclosures about the activities of Western intelligence services. Previously, China rarely discussed such cases publicly, but since the launch of WeChat in the Ministry of Commonwealth last year, it has increasingly made them public.
Li Baiyang said in an interview with the "Global Times" reporter on the 8th that in recent years, not only has the United States stepped up intelligence collection and espionage activities against China, but the United Kingdom, as a member of the "Five Eyes Alliance", has also secretly engaged in espionage activities, and some of these operations will cooperate with US intelligence agencies. Li Baiyang mentioned that one of the major characteristics of the British intelligence department's espionage activities against other countries is the use of personnel from third countries. In particular, as a former overlord, Britain has excelled at attracting nationals of countries it once colonized by offering green cards, mansions, or other forms of incentives.
Li Baiyang said that after combing through the history of MI6, it is not difficult to find that the agency has made "false accusations" against innocent people with Chinese experience on the one hand, and has wantonly carried out intelligence activities against China on the other hand, which shows its hypocrisy.
CNN mentioned in a report on the 8th that the news of the Chinese security department's announcement of the cracking of the espionage case was released after China carried out a months-long operation against an international consulting firm.
In May last year, the first authority, together with relevant departments, carried out public law enforcement against Kaisheng Rongying Information Technology Co., Ltd., a leading enterprise in the domestic consulting industry. It is reported that the first authorities have investigated a number of special cases and found that many overseas institutions with complex backgrounds, in order to circumvent China's laws and regulations and the supervision of key sensitive industries, cover up and weaken overseas backgrounds, and use domestic consulting companies and other industries to steal state secrets and intelligence in key areas of China. Some domestic consulting companies have a weak sense of the law, and in order to seek economic benefits, they frequently wander on the edge of the law.
Li Wei, a researcher at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations and an expert on counter-terrorism, told the Global Times on the 8th that the hype of the so-called "Chinese spy" by Britain and the United States and other countries is purely "a thief shouting to catch a thief". Both the UK-6 and the US Intelligence Agency use intelligence activities to complement their overall strategy of countering China. The scope of their confrontation with China has gone beyond specific fields, covering the economic, military, scientific and technological and financial fields, and the most serious challenges facing China can be described as extremely severe. ▲