On Wednesday (October 15), the UK government publicly released three key witness statements revealing that senior government officials had warned as early as 2023 that the Chinese authorities were conducting “large-scale espionage activities” in the UK, rekindling the controversy surrounding the Chinese spy case that had been dropped due to evidential disputes.
The case involved two British citizens – former parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash and teacher Christopher Berry – who were accused of collecting intelligence for China between 2021 and 2023. However, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) suddenly dropped the prosecution last month, sparking political controversies.
According to documents released by the Prime Minister’s office on that day, current Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Collins submitted three written testimonies to the prosecution in December 2023, February 2025, and August 2025 respectively. The first one was completed during the Conservative Party’s tenure, while the latter two were submitted by the Labour government.
In the 2023 document, Collins pointed out that Chinese intelligence agencies “possess high-level technical capabilities and are conducting large-scale espionage operations against the UK and its allies” with the aim of “advancing Chinese (Communist Party) national interests and undermining UK security and interests”.
He detailed the backgrounds of the two defendants in the document. According to information provided by counter-terrorism police, “the Chinese successfully recruited Berry as an intelligence officer and instructed him to penetrate the China Research Group (CRG) in Parliament through his relationship with Cash.”
This testimony laid the foundation for the prosecution of the two individuals last April and officially defined Chinese intelligence activities as “a direct threat to UK interests”.
The second statement in February 2025 stated, “China (the Communist Party) is an authoritarian state with values distinctly different from those of the UK, posing a challenge to the UK and its allies.”
The testimony also emphasized the government’s commitment to pursuing positive economic relations and advocated for continued trade and investment with China, under the premise of maintaining security and values to promote UK economic growth.
The third statement submitted in August 2025, just a month before the case was dropped, reiterated that “Chinese (Communist Party) intelligence activities threaten the UK’s economic prosperity, resilience, and the integrity of its democratic system.” He specifically mentioned that the UK government believed Beijing was behind the cyber-attacks on the UK Electoral Commission between 2021 and 2023.
This document had a harsher tone than the previous one, but still maintained the stance that “the UK should maintain constructive economic exchanges with China”, stating explicitly, “the government believes it is necessary to continue cooperating with international partners in trade and investment to ensure economic growth without compromising national security and values.”
The CPS stated that the case was dropped on September 15, citing the reason as “the lack of official government documents demonstrating that China (the Communist Party) was identified as a national security threat at the time of the incident,” which made it impossible to meet the threshold of evidence.
Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve (Conservative Party) told the BBC in an interview that this move was “puzzling,” emphasizing that although the documents did not explicitly use the term “national security threat,” “the overall content clearly indicated that China (the Communist Party) posed a threat.”
Opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer of “covering up the truth” and criticized the government for “deliberately downplaying the Chinese (Communist Party) threat to maintain economic and trade relations.” She quoted the 2021 Comprehensive Security Review by the Conservative government and Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, stating that China had long been identified as the “biggest national-level threat to the UK’s economic security.”
Starmer responded that the case was initiated during the Conservative Party’s tenure, and the decision to drop it was unrelated to his government. He stated that the release of related testimonies was to ensure “transparency and complete information.”
A CPS spokesperson stated in an email to the Epoch Times on October 15, “These statements by Collins are part of the criminal litigation process, which has now concluded. The relevant materials do not belong to our office, and whether they are made public falls within the government’s purview and is not related to the CPS.”
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported citing former senior UK security officials and insiders that a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group had systematically infiltrated the UK government’s classified computer networks over the past decade, accessing a significant amount of “official-sensitive” and “secret” level internal data, including policy drafts, diplomatic cables, and confidential communications of officials.
Although the UK authorities stated that the “top secret” level data had not been leaked, sources described the Chinese penetration of the UK government networks as “ongoing and relentless.” One major vulnerability involved a data center in London that had previously stored sensitive government data. The data center was sold to a company affiliated with China during the Conservative Party’s tenure, raising serious security concerns.
A UK official spokesperson emphasized that the most sensitive government systems remained secure. However, multiple security experts pointed out that these network attacks demonstrated that Beijing indeed posed a substantive national security threat to the UK.
MI5, the UK’s security agency, issued a warning to Parliament this week, indicating that China and Russia were intensifying espionage activities. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre statistics showed a 50% increase in serious cyber-attacks over the past year, with China being seen as a “primary threat source.”
This case is one of the most impactful judicial actions since the UK publicly accused China of infiltrating the political arena. In 2023, the UK Parliament faced heated debates over the “Parliamentary Researcher Spy Case”. While the current Labour government continues to condemn Beijing’s espionage activities, it also emphasizes “dialogue and cooperation” to avoid a complete deterioration of Sino-British relations.
Cabinet sources disclosed that Foreign Office senior official Olly Robbins is currently visiting Beijing, attempting to advance the UK’s embassy refurbishment project in China. Meanwhile, China is applying to build a new large-scale embassy in London, sparking controversy within the UK political sphere.
These revelations come at a time when Washington and the UK are focusing on Sino-British relations, cybersecurity, and intelligence confrontation. The Starmer government has faced internal and parliamentary questioning over its diplomatic contacts with China to advance this latest espionage case and the exposure of information security crises, further increasing the pressures on its foreign policy and national security.
(This article referenced reports from the Epoch Times and BBC in English)