China ‘spy case fiasco’ risks rift in UK-US ties 

A security crisis has erupted in the United Kingdom amid a high-profile China “spy case fiasco” and a warning from the United States. Last week, Washington cautioned London about the political fallout and the national security threats posed by Beijing.

The British media quoted a senior Trump administration official criticizing Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government for dropping the prosecution. The move risks eroding the “special relationship” and intelligence-sharing between the US and the UK.

“[We have] been warning allies about the Chinese threat to our combined national security since President Trump first came to office in 2017. The US government exercises extreme caution in sharing information with governments subject to coercion,” the official said.

There was also blowback from Sir John Sawers, the former chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6. In an interview with Times Radio, he questioned the decision to drop charges against two British men accused of spying for China.

“I think these two people accused of spying in parliament … what they were doing, if the allegations are true, was certainly illegal, and frankly I’m a bit confused and unsure about why the prosecution was dropped,” he said.

UK should put a complete stop to the ‘spy case’ farce.

Academic Li Guanjie

I Spy …

• British Prime Minister Starmer is under pressure after The Sunday Times reported that a senior minister told allies that the spying case was binned to appease China.
• If not, Beijing would cut off further investment into a UK economy strangled by weak growth and spiraling debt problems.

Delve deeper: Speculation is also rife that the collapse of the spy case is linked to controversial plans to build China’s new “super-embassy” on the edge of the City of London’s financial center. It would be the largest in Europe.

Between the lines: Close to the Tower of London, the Royal Mint Court site is near to sensitive communications cables. MI5, MI6, and other security agencies have expressed “concerns” about the development, according to The Sunday Telegraph at the weekend.

Bottom line: “[Key] intelligence on [the] China embassy threat [was] left out of [an] official review,” the media group reported, adding that “national security agencies were prevented from submitting spying concerns over planning application.”

Big picture: China’s state-owned media have wallowed in the drama. A Global Times commentary by academic Li Guanjie pointed out that the “UK should put a complete stop to the ‘spy case’ farce.” Hardly original and extremely predictable.

China Factor comment: What should not be lost in the rhetoric is that the UK is one of the Five Eyes, an intelligence-sharing alliance, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the US. Beijing would love nothing better than to poke out one of those Eyes.