China has accused British intelligence agencies of recruiting a couple as spies, the latest in a series of tit-for-tat accusations between Beijing and the West in recent months.
MI6 agents successfully recruited two State Department employees by exploiting their “strong desire for money,” according to China’s Ministry of State Security.
The man, named Wang, then convinced his partner Zhou to join him as a British spy.
The charges came weeks after UK charges two men with spying for China.
The men were accused of providing “articles, notes, documents or information” to foreign countries, charges China called “malicious slander”.
At the beginning of this month, A former Royal Marine charged with aiding Hong Kong intelligence services Police said he was dead when he was found.
China has not revealed how it solved the case involving Mr Wang and Ms Zhou, saying only that it was done after a “thorough investigation”.
The case remains under investigation and Chinese officials have not said whether the couple will be charged.
The BBC has contacted the UK authorities for response.
China’s Ministry of State Security claimed that MI6 began grooming Mr Wang when he studied in the UK on a China-UK exchange program in 2015.
The ministry said agents gave him “special care” in the UK, such as inviting him to dinners and trips to better “understand his interests and weaknesses”.
They befriended him on campus under the guise of being an alumnus and asked him to provide “paid consulting services.”
China’s Ministry of State Security claimed that MI6 agents also used Mr Wang to recruit Ms Zhou to spy for China. The statement added that they all held “core classified positions” at an unnamed state agency.
“Wang hesitated at first, but couldn’t resist [the operatives’] After repeated persuasion, inducements and even coercion, I finally agreed.
“With strong instigation from Wang, Zhou agreed to gather intelligence… He and his wife became British spies.”
Zhuang Jiayan, a scholar at Carnegie China, said it was unclear why Beijing chose to make the case public. Beijing may retaliate by publicizing the case, but it has arrested people on espionage charges in the past.
Dr. Zhuang said without more information, it was difficult to determine the veracity of Beijing’s claims.
“Sometimes these don’t show up… [the Chinese Communist Party] Including its judicial system, especially when it comes to espionage cases, can make it particularly challenging to understand the details of the case,” he added.
Since its launch in August, China’s Ministry of State Security has been releasing frequent updates on its official channels.
In January, it warned citizens not to ‘Exotic beauties’ try to lure them into the hands of foreign spy agencies.
Among other things, it warned citizens not to photograph military equipment and warned against organizations “recruiting aviation enthusiasts as volunteers” to transmit China’s flight data to other countries.
