cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44478706
Two prominent Conservative MPs who claim to have been spied on by two men working for China have urged Sir Keir Starmer to block Beijing’s plans for a “mega” embassy in London and “protect” the UK’s national security.
Alicia Kearns and Tom Tugendhat called on the prime minister to put China in the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme and impose sanctions on Chinese officials behind the alleged espionage in parliament.
Starmer has come under significant pressure to explain why the Crown Prosecution Service last month abandoned espionage charges against Christopher Cash, a parliamentary researcher and director of the China Research Group, which campaigned for a tougher line on Beijing, and Christopher Berry, who worked as a researcher in China.
Both men have denied any wrongdoing and were formally acquitted. The CPS this month said the case collapsed after the UK government refused to provide evidence that China was a threat to national security.
Starmer has said he is frustrated that the case collapsed and denied that his government sought to undermine it, although critics have suggested his government wanted to prioritise trade with China and to avoid upsetting Beijing.
In their letter on Sunday, Kearns and Tugendhat told Starmer: “Failing to prosecute two men charged with spying for China demonstrates worrying levels of complacency.”
“You’ve repeatedly stated your disappointment that this prosecution did not proceed. You now have the opportunity to do what’s necessary to protect this country,” they added.
The call from Kearns and Tugendhat, shadow national security minister and a former security minister respectively, comes at a challenging time for UK-China relations, with London wary of being labelled as soft on Beijing while seeking greater inward investment to boost the economy.
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Ministers last week delayed their response to China’s application to construct a new embassy on the edge of the City of London, which would be the largest such building in Europe.
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China later warned of “consequences” for the UK for again delaying the decision on the embassy’s planning application, which had been expected this week but will now not come until December 10.
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The prime minister is struggling to counter a perception his government has been soft on China, even as it stresses that national security is its top priority.
This year ministers kept China out of the enhanced tier of the FIRs scheme, adding only Russia and Iran to a register that is designed to track “covert foreign influence” in the UK. China is at present in the lower, second tier.
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Kearns and Tugendhat told Starmer that given the UK security services had “identified the Chinese officials responsible for targeting us . . . you must draw a clear red line and sanction them”.
“We know that you care about our national security. We ask that you back up your words with action.”
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