Updated 5 February 2021 at 18:58 IST
UK expelled three Chinese spies posing as journalists in 2020: Report
The UK has expelled at least three Chinese spies working in Britain while posing as journalists over the past year, the Daily Telegraph newspaper has reported.
The United Kingdom has expelled at least three Chinese spies working in Britain while posing as journalists over the past year, the Daily Telegraph newspaper has reported. The three expelled so-called media workers were understood to be intelligence officers for Beijing’s Ministry of State Security, the paper reported on February 4 citing an unnamed senior British government source. It also said that the true identities of Chinese spies were uncovered by the UK’s domestic intelligence agency MI5 before they were forced to return to China.
The paper stated that all three had claimed to “work for three different Chinese media agencies” and that they all arrived in Britain over the past 12 months. While the names of the Chinese media agencies were not disclosed, the report came amid already tense relations between China and the UK. Both nations have increasingly become strained as the British government has voiced disagreement over Beijing’s clampdowns in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. The UK has also barred Chinese telecom giant Huawei from nation’s 5G networks over security concerns.
UK revokes Chinese state broadcaster’s license
Meanwhile, China reportedly lashed out on the UK for revoking the license of Chinese state broadcaster CGTN and even made allegations if “ideological prejudice”. A day after British regulator Ofcom revoked the license on February 4 citing violation of Britsih law by the state-backed CGTN ownership structure. Now the UK broadcasters would either have to stop CGTN’s broadcast or pay an unlimited penalty. Irked by the unprecedented move against the Chinese channel, Chinese foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said it was based on “ideological prejudice and political reasons”.
Ofcom elaborated in a statement that UK’s broadcasting laws made by the Britsih Parliament state that the broadcast licenses must have control over the licensed service including even the editorial insight over the programmed they show. Further, these laws also prohibit license holders to be controlled by political bodies.
However, the British regulator said in that its investigation “concluded that Star China Media Limited (SCML), the licence-holder for the CGTN service, did not have editorial responsibility for CGTN’s output. As such, SCML does not meet the legal requirement of having control over the licensed service, and so is not a lawful broadcast licensee.”
Published By : Aanchal Nigam
Published On: 5 February 2021 at 19:00 IST