BEIJING: Building on months of accusations of mutual espionage between Beijing and Western countries, China accused Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) on Monday of recruiting a couple who worked for the central government to spy for the UK.
In a post on its official WeChat, the Ministry of State Security stated that MI6 agents had persuaded a man going by the name of Wang, who had a “core confidential role” in the central state apparatus, to defect with his spouse, going by the name Zhou.
Following a thorough investigation, the national security institutions recently discovered a significant espionage case in which Wang and Zhou, employees of a Chinese central state agency, were coerced to defect by the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).
According to the ministry, once Wang enrolled in a course of study in the UK in 2015, British agents started to “understand his character weaknesses, interests, and demands” by setting up dinners and excursions for him. They recruited Wang to offer well-paid consultancy services that eventually involved the internal operations of core state agencies after discovering that he “had a strong desire for money,” according to the ministry.
Later, MI6 agents told Wang who they were and told him to go back to China and gather information. Wang was then persuaded to force Zhou to follow suit.
