How China claims Britain recruit their spies: Beijing accuses MI6 spooks of targeting married government workers with promises of well-paid consulting work before using 'coercion' to hand over state secrets

China and Britain have for months traded accusations over perceived spying

MI6 used 'coercion' to recruit married Chinese government workers as spies and to get them to hand over state secrets, with promises of well-paid consulting work, Beijing has claimed.

This comes amid China and Britain having for months traded accusations over perceived spying, which they say is a threat to national security.

China's Ministry of State Security claimed this week that two Chinese government employees were successfully recruited by Britain's foreign intelligence agency, MI6, after visiting in 2015 for an official exchange programme.

The man, identified only by his surname Wang, then convinced his wife, Zhou, to also become a spy, the ministry said, citing a 'thorough investigation' into the alleged espionage case.

Officials in Beijing claim the case remains under investigation and have not yet revealed if the couple will be charged.

China's main intelligence service, in a message on social media on Monday, said it had uncovered a major espionage case involving Wang and Zhou, who were allegedly recruited to MI6.

China has accused Britain of recruiting a married Chinese couple as spies by grooming the husband with 'special care' while he was studying in the UK. Pictured is Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on May 30, 2024

The ministry of state security said Wang had gone to Britain as a student in 2015 and was later joined by his wife.

Beijing alleges that British operatives befriended him on the university campus where he was studying and took 'special care' of him, including by inviting him to dinners and on tours to better 'understand his interests and weaknesses'.

It said Wang had 'a strong desire for money' and was drawn into a part-time consulting opportunity with high remuneration before MI6 personnel approached him to work to serve the British government with promises of even bigger monetary rewards, as well as security.

It said Wang was given hotel rooms, trips around the country and financial incentives.

After it was decided that 'the conditions were ripe', handlers told him they worked for the intelligence services and asked for him to work for them for 'security guarantees' and money.

'I the interests of profit, Wang agreed to the British side's request and completed the espionage formalities. MI6 trained Wang in professional espionage and instructed him to return to his home country to gather important information about China,' the ministry said, according to The Times.

'Wang was initially hesitant but could not resist [the operatives'] repeated persuasion, enticement and even coercion, and eventually agreed,' the ministry wrote on WeChat, the BBC reported.

'Under Wang's strong instigation, Zhou agreed to collect intelligence... and he and his wife became British spies.'

After espionage training, MI6 commanded Wang to return to China to collect important information related to the Chinese government, the ministry alleged.

Its statement said MI6 also persuaded Wang to recruit his wife, who worked at a 'core government unit', for double the money. His wife, whose surname was Zhou, eventually agreed, it said.

It said the couple worked for the Chinese government in a 'central state agency' and handled government secrets, which they passed to MI6. No information was given about what specific information the couple may have provided.

The ministry also did not say which governmental agency the pair worked for, but claimed they both had 'core confidential roles' .

A spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (pictured on June 1, 2024) said it was Britain's 'longstanding policy not to comment on the work of our intelligence agencies'

Beijing says the case is still under investigation and gave no word on the location of the couple.

Since launching its WeChat profile last year, the Chinese Ministry of State Security has been more public in its dealings, using the social media account to make announcements on espionage cases and to give advice to Chinese nationals so they do not get co-opted by foreign intelligence.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said it was Britain's 'longstanding policy not to comment on the work of our intelligence agencies'.

It comes as Britain and China have for months accused each other of espionage.

In January, Beijing said that MI6, Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, had used a foreigner in China to collect secrets and information. 

British prosecutors in April charged two people with providing prejudicial information to China.

Last month, UK authorities said two men would go on trial on suspicion of collecting sensitive information for Hong Kong's government.

A third suspect, 37-year-old Briton Matthew Trickett, was also charged in the case, but was found dead in a park under what police said were unexplained circumstances.

China and the UK have clashed over Beijing's clampdown on free speech and open elections in Hong Kong, a former British territory that was guaranteed its own economic and political freedoms for 50 years after its handover to Chinese rule in 1997.