Britain will summon China’s ambassador to London after two men were convicted of spying on behalf of Hong Kong and, ultimately, China, Security Minister Dan Jarvis said Thursday.
Calling the case a serious breach of national sovereignty, Jarvis said the British government would not tolerate foreign interference that threatens public safety in the UK.
“The activities carried out by these men, on behalf of China, are an infringement of our sovereignty and will never be tolerated,” Jarvis said in a statement.
He added that the Foreign Office would formally summon the Chinese ambassador to underline that such actions were “unacceptable on UK soil.”
The convictions, handed down by a London court on Thursday, involved two men accused of gathering intelligence on pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong who are now living in Britain. One of the men was identified as a British immigration officer.
China swiftly rejected the accusations. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London said Beijing had lodged formal complaints with the British government and accused the UK of politicizing the case.
“The facts of this case clearly show that this is nothing but a political move of abusing the law and manipulating the judicial process by the UK side,” the spokesperson said.
Beijing also claimed the case was designed to support “anti-China elements” based in Britain and to damage the reputations of both the Chinese and Hong Kong governments.
Hong Kong authorities likewise denied any connection to the case. A spokesperson for the Hong Kong government said the allegations were unrelated to either the administration or the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London.
“We firmly oppose any unfounded allegations against the HKSAR Government and the London ETO,” the spokesperson said.
Relations between London and Beijing have remained tense since China imposed a sweeping national security crackdown following the 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Britain, which governed Hong Kong for 156 years before the territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997, has repeatedly criticized the erosion of political freedoms in the city. Photo by Chmee2, Wikimedia commons.
