British PM Publishes Witness Statements Detailing CCP’s ‘Large-Scale Espionage’ in UK
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Witness statements published Oct. 15, after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed to release evidence submitted by the government in a now-collapsed case, reveal details of the Chinese Communist Party’s espionage operations in the UK.
The statements, provided by deputy national security adviser Matt Collins, were sent to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) before it decided it would not prosecute two men accused of spying for China.
‘Large-Scale Espionage Operations’
In a statement from December 2023—when the Conservative Party lawmaker Rishi Sunak was prime minister—Collins goes into detail about the allegations against Cash and Berry, and then states, “As set out in the Integrated Review Refresh of 2023, the UK is updating its approach to China to keep pace with the evolving and epoch-defining challenge it poses to the international order.”In a document dated February 2024, Collins said, “China and the UK both benefit from bilateral trade and investment, but China also presents the biggest state-based threat to the UK’s economic security.”
The Chinese activities “threaten the UK’s economic prosperity and resilience and the integrity of our democratic institutions,” he said.
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“It is important for me to emphasise, however, that the UK government is committed to pursuing a positive relationship with China to strengthen understanding, cooperation and stability,” he added. “The Government’s position is that we will co-operate where we can; compete where we need to; and challenge where we must, including on issues of national security.”
Collins went into detail about examples of nefarious Chinese activity against the UK.
Reacting to the publication of the statements, Badenoch said on Oct. 16 that Starmer “doesn’t have the backbone to stand up to Beijing.”
She called on Starmer to publish any correspondence and minutes of meetings relating to the case.
“The government’s story is falling apart under scrutiny, and the only thing that is clear is that the prime minister knew the spy case was collapsing but did not act,” she said.
He said the security services had carried out an operation against a threat from China in the past week.
“Of course I am frustrated when opportunities to prosecute national security-threatening activity are not followed through for whatever reason,” he said, in reference to the Cash and Berry case.
“The UK-China relationship is by its nature complex, but MI5’s role is not: we detect and deal, robustly, with activity threatening UK national security,” he said, during his annual speech outlining major threats to the UK.
“When it comes to China, the UK needs to defend resolutely against threats and seize the opportunities that demonstrably serve our nation.”
Cash, the former parliamentary researcher, said on Oct. 15 that he wanted to reiterate that he is completely innocent.
‘Simply Unbelievable’
Starmer has insisted that his government is not responsible for the trial collapsing, and has sought to blame the previous Conservative government, which lost power in the July 2024 election.On Wednesday, the leader of the opposition Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, said, “It is simply unbelievable that he is trying to say the last government did not classify China as a threat,” adding, “How is it possible that the government failed to provide the evidence that the CPS needed to prosecute?”
Dominic Cummings, who was an adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson between 2019 and 2020, has claimed that Chinese intelligence breached high-level systems used to transfer sensitive UK government information.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson denied the claim, according to the publication.
“It is untrue to claim that the systems we use to transfer the most sensitive government information have been compromised,” the spokesperson said.
