【Text by Observer Net, Xiong Chaoran】Regarding the so-called "Chinese espionage" case, some people in the UK have been hyping it up repeatedly, even though the prosecution has decided to drop the charges. Still, some people are not giving up.

According to the British Guardian and Associated Press on October 16 local time, after the prosecution dropped the charges due to insufficient evidence, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Stephen Parkinson, is facing strong pressure from all political parties at home to provide an explanation. At the same time, the UK's Security Service (MI5) expressed dissatisfaction, and MPs launched a series of so-called investigations to find out how the decision to drop the charges was made.

Earlier that day, Ken McCallum, the head of the UK National Security Agency (MI5), gave a rare public speech at his annual address, once again hyping up the issue. "Does China pose a threat to the UK's national security? The answer is certainly yes. They are threatening every day," he claimed. MI5 recently intervened to prevent so-called threats from China in the past week, stating that "Chinese interference activities" include "cyber espionage, theft of technological secrets, and attempts to secretly interfere in the UK's public life."

"Of course, I feel frustrated when the opportunity to prosecute activities that threaten national security fails for any reason," McCallum also said, claiming that he "will never back down in dealing with the threats facing the UK."

In response to these unfounded and baseless accusations by the UK, the spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lin Jian, stated: "The relevant allegations are purely defamatory. We urge the relevant people in the UK to stop the groundless hype and stop such political manipulation." In addition, the spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Guo Jia Kun, said that since the judicial authorities in the UK have withdrawn the charges, it fully demonstrates that the claim of "spying for China" is entirely false. China firmly opposes the defamation and smear campaigns against China by hyping up "espionage activities" and spreading "the China threat." "We advise some people in the UK not to suffer from paranoid delusions," Guo Jia Kun said.

On October 16, 2025, in London, UK, Ken McCallum, head of MI5, delivered an annual speech. Oriental IC

The Associated Press reported that when McCallum made public statements, he described the relationship between the UK and China as "complex," "with risks and opportunities coexisting," and claimed that MI5 agents are "investigating and cracking down on activities that threaten the UK's national security." He also complained that the power to decide on prosecutions does not lie with MI5.

In this annual speech, McCallum exaggerated the so-called "major threats" facing the UK, deliberately creating a severe image, claiming that the UK faces "unprecedented multiple threats" from "terrorist organizations" and other countries. He even claimed that China is one of the "three major country threats," along with Russia and Iran.

McCallum claimed that the UK's "national threats" are escalating, and the number of spies being investigated by MI5 increased by 35% in the past year. He also claimed that Russia and Iran are increasingly using "ugly methods," including "surveillance sabotage, arson or physical violence."

The Guardian reported that the chairs of the Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Justice, and National Security Committees of the UK Parliament sent a joint letter to the DPP, Stephen Parkinson, on October 16 local time, demanding that he "provide a more comprehensive explanation for the reasons behind the withdrawal of the charges."

They questioned Parkinson: "What measures have you taken to make government ministers aware that due to changes in case law, which requires the UK to designate China as 'a threat to the UK's national security,' otherwise the case may face the risk of failure?"

They also questioned a key government witness, Matthew Collins, one of the deputy national security advisors, whether he had been warned that his testimony might not be sufficient to support the charges, and "whether they considered seeking evidence from other sources to assess the extent of the security threat posed by China."

It is expected that Parkinson will be called before the UK Parliament to explain why, on September 15 this year, just one month before the original trial date of the case, he dropped the charges against two British men accused of being "Chinese spies" on the grounds of "lack of sufficient evidence."

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) introduced that the two British men involved were 30-year-old Christopher Cash and 33-year-old Christopher Berry.

The prosecutor in charge of the case, Tom Little, previously told the court that the collected evidence did not meet the threshold for a trial, "we could not continue with the prosecution." Judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb stated that she "fully agreed" with the prosecution's decision and ruled the two men not guilty.

Even so, the UK Home Office still insisted in a statement, "given the seriousness of the charges, we cannot accept the disappointment of the trial." The statement also said, "we will continue to use various tools and powers to prevent malicious activities."

The spokesperson for the UK Prime Minister's office echoed, saying that dropping the charges was "extremely disappointing," and these charges raised "serious concerns," "any attempt by foreign forces to infiltrate is unacceptable."

According to reports, Cash and Berry were arrested by UK law enforcement agencies in March 2023 and formally charged in April 2024.

The prosecution accused them of gathering and providing information detrimental to the UK's national security and interests for China between December 28, 2021, and February 3, 2023, violating the Official Secrets Act. They were originally scheduled to be tried at the Woolwich Criminal Court starting on October 6, but both denied all the charges.

After this farce, some people in the UK continued to hype it up, such as Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons, who jumped out to claim that the decision to drop the charges actually gave China a "license to operate" within the UK Parliament, making the UK Parliament vulnerable to "foreign forces" attacks.

UK Prime Minister Starmer also claimed that he was disappointed with the case being dropped and emphasized that his government did not participate in this decision. Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary of the Conservative Party, also wrote to Parkinson, asking him to publicly disclose all communications between the CPS and the government regarding the relevant evidence.

From previous disclosed information, Cash and Berry were accused of possibly being related to their work involving China.

The Financial Times introduced that Cash was a parliamentary researcher and served as the director of the "China Research Group" (CRG), contacting many Conservative MPs. Notably, this group, under the guise of "studying China," frequently spread anti-China rhetoric, and is notorious. Berry taught in China and introduced some tourist attractions in China on social media platforms.

Christopher Cash (left) and Christopher Berry, photo

On the evening of September 15, after the Central Criminal Court in London decided to terminate the legal proceedings, Cash said outside the court that he was "relieved that justice was done." He said that the two years since his arrest felt like "a nightmare" and hoped people would learn lessons from this "regrettable incident."

Cash's lawyer, Henry Blaxland, said that even Cash's colleagues were surprised by these charges. "We just hope he can rebuild his life."

On the evening of October 16, according to the website of the Chinese Embassy in the UK, the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the UK responded to questions about the UK's hype over the so-called "Chinese spy" case.

The reporter asked, "In recent times, there have been multiple rounds of hype in the UK regarding the dismissal of the so-called 'Chinese spy' case. The UK government claimed to be disappointed with the prosecution's decision to drop the charges and published three so-called testimonies yesterday. The UK's political parties also blamed each other. What is your comment on this?"

The spokesperson of the embassy stated that from the beginning, we have emphasized that the claim that the Chinese side instructed certain UK personnel to "steal UK intelligence" is completely fabricated and malicious slander. We firmly oppose this.

The so-called testimonies released by the UK after the prosecution dropped the charges are full of various baseless accusations against China, which are pure rumors and fabrications. We strongly condemn this.

China has never interfered in the internal affairs of other countries, and we always act openly and honestly. As the saying goes, "A gentleman is open-minded, while a petty person is always anxious." The UK politicians' attempts to defame and smear China will never succeed!

We urge the relevant parties in the UK to stop bringing up China at will, stop the anti-China hype, and stop undermining Sino-British relations.

This article is an exclusive article by Observer Net. Without permission, it cannot be reprinted.

Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7561990370403140148/

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