China has accused MI6 of turning two unnamed Chinese central state officials into spies for the British government.
The Ministry of State Security said in a statement that the case against the two spies, a couple, is under further investigation.
In its statement, the Chinese ministry stated that the spy surnamed Wang studied in the United Kingdom in 2015 and was invited to dinners and excursions surreptitiously organized by MI6 during that period.
Wang was said to have “a strong desire for money” and was lured into a part-time consultancy opportunity before MI6 personnel approached him to work to serve the British government with promises of even greater monetary rewards, as well as security.
After espionage training, MI6 ordered Wang to return to China to collect important information relating to his government.
The ministry said MI6 also convinced Wang to hand over his wife, who worked at a “central government unit”, for double the money.
The wife, surnamed Zhou, eventually agreed.
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China and Britain have traded accusations for months over alleged espionage that threatens their respective national titles.
In January, China revealed an espionage case in which it claimed that MI6 used a foreigner in China to gather secrets and information.
And in April, British authorities charged two people with providing damaging information to China, and last month they charged three people with helping Hong Kong’s foreign intelligence service in Britain.
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