MI5 chief says Chinese spies pose threat to UK national security ‘every day’

The Security Service carried out an operation against a threat from China within the last week, the head of MI5 said as he admitted being “frustrated” by the collapse of the Westminster spying trial.

Sir Ken McCallum said “Chinese state actors” present a national security threat to the UK “every day”.

He said that the UK needed to “defend itself resolutely” against China while also being able to “seize the opportunities” from having a relationship with Beijing.

In a speech at MI5’s London headquarters, the service’s director general Sir Ken said: “The UK-China relationship is, by its nature, complex, but MI5’s role is not: we detect and deal, robustly, with activity threatening national security.”

He highlighted attempts by China to carry out “cyber espionage”, “clandestine technology transfer”, efforts to “interfere covertly in UK public life” and the “harassment and intimidation of opponents” including pro-democracy activists.

“When it comes to China, the UK needs to defend itself resolutely against threats and seize the opportunities that demonstrably serve our nation,” he said.

It was a choice for ministers to decide where the balance lies, he said, “informed by expert security advice”.

He added that there were security grounds for maintaining a “substantive” relationship with Beijing because “when lines are crossed, being seriously engaged gives the UK a stronger position from which to push back”.

MI5 would continue “preventing, detecting and disrupting activity of national security concern”, he said.

“We’ve intervened operationally again just in the last week,” he said.

Sir Ken confirmed the operation was against a “threat which connects back to China”.

The Crown Prosecution Service dropped a case against Christopher Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Christopher Berry in September after deciding the Government’s evidence did not prove that China was a national security threat to the UK.

Both men, who deny wrongdoing, had been accused of passing secrets to China.

Asked directly whether China as a whole was a national security threat, Sir Ken said: “Question one is: do Chinese state actors present a UK national security threat?

“And the answer is, of course, yes they do, every day.”

But “the second question” was about the “overall balance” of the foreign policy relationship with China which was “perfectly legitimately, a matter for government”.

Asked if he was frustrated by the collapse of the Cash and Berry case, he said: “Of course I am frustrated when opportunities to prosecute national security- threatening activity are not followed through, for whatever reason.”

But he added that the alleged activity was stopped: “I would invite everyone to not miss the fact that this was a strong disruption in the interest of the UK’s national security.”

The Government’s evidence was submitted by deputy national security adviser Matt Collins, who Sir Ken described as a “man of high integrity and a professional of considerable quality”.

In his evidence, Mr Collins said Beijing’s “highly capable” intelligence services are carrying out “large-scale espionage operations against the UK”.

Sir Ken would not be drawn on the number of people involved in Beijing’s operations, telling reporters: “Try not to think too much just in terms of classic, card-carrying spies based out of embassies in the Le Carre mould.”

There were a “whole host of ways in which Chinese state actors are able to collect information of value to them”.

“The tricky thing is that there’s a whole series of dimensions where UK-China intercourse on a whole series of things is a healthy thing.

“So trying to make sure that we are proportionate and we draw sensible lines around what to protect and how is a complex set of questions to which we apply ourselves every day.”