Three journalists who were allegedly working as spies for China were asked to leave the UK last year.
By Gordon Corera BBC News
Published
Their departure, first reported by the Daily Telegraph, came because they had arrived under journalism visas but were believed to be working for the Ministry of State Security, part of China's intelligence apparatus.
Their departure was low-key and did not come in the past few months.
The Home Office declined to comment on the reports.
It is not clear which media organisations they worked for. The Chinese Embassy in London has been contacted for comment.
The revelation came after Ofcom on Thursday revoked the licence of the Chinese state broadcaster CGTN to operate in the UK.
The broadcasting regulator said the company that had the licence did not have day-to-day control over the channel which was against the rules.
The decision was not linked to the reports about the three Chinese journalists.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was "firmly opposed" to Ofcom's ruling.
UK government minister, Nigel Adams, told parliament on Thursday that the report showed "clearly evil acts".
According to estimates, more than a million Uighurs and other minorities have been detained in camps in China.
An investigation published by the BBC on Wednesday contained first-hand testimony of systematic rape, sexual abuse and torture of women detainees by police and guards.
A senior Whitehall source confirmed that the three spies each purported to 'work for three different Chinese media agencies' which have not been named CREDIT: PA
Three Chinese spies who falsely posed as journalists have been expelled from Britain in the past year, The Telegraph can reveal.
The trio are understood to be intelligence officers for Beijing’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) and arrived in the country on journalism visas under the fake pretext of working in the media.
A senior Whitehall source confirmed that the three spies each purported to “work for three different Chinese media agencies”, which have not been named, and that they “all set foot in the UK” in the past 12 months.
Their true identities were uncovered by MI5 and they have since been forced to return to China. It is thought likely that the Chinese media companies were integral to their cover stories were complicit in these plots.
The Chinese Embassy has been contacted for comment.
Downing Street is expected to introduce new legislation to tighten and update current laws on spying and the Official Secrets Act in the next parliamentary session, due to begin in May.
Proposals are being examined for a US-style Foreign Agents Registration Act, which would force lobbyists who work on behalf of foreign governments to register or face sanctions including jail and deportation.
This would aim to outlaw acts of malign interference and influence by foreign states that do not currently meet the threshold of illegality.
The Government is looking at tabling a single “mega Bill” on national security to encompass all these elements, according to sources.
British officials said it was common for Chinese intelligence officers working undercover and undeclared in the West to use the pretence of media work as a cloak for their true activities.
Last year, Fraser Cameron, a former MI6 intelligence officer, was accused of selling secrets to two Belgium-based Chinese spies who were accredited in Brussels as journalists.
Reports quoted Belgian security service sources saying the Chinese nationals worked for the MSS and the Chinese military.
Mr Cameron denied the allegations against him and said they were “without foundation”.
The MSS is China’s civilian intelligence and political security agency. It is a well-resourced agency and was established in 1983 as a merger of the units previously responsible for foreign intelligence, economic espionage, counterintelligence, political security and influence work, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think tank.
The broadcasting regulator found the English-language satellite news channel was not under the editorial control of its licence holder, breaching a requirement under British law.
Chinese President Xi Jinping of China, seen on a programme from the CGTN archive, as it plays on a computer monitor. Ofcom claims that Star China Media Limited (who owns the licence for China Global Television Network) doesn't have day-to-day editorial control over the channel CREDIT: (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)/ (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
An application to transfer this licence to a new entity was rejected on the grounds that it would ultimately fall under the control of the Chinese Community Party. The Ofcom rules ban broadcasters from being controlled by political bodies.
While CGTN will no longer be permitted to air programmes in Britain, it may continue to exist as a media company. Its employees are permitted to continue to live and work in the UK subject to the conditions of their visas, it is understood.
Julian Knight, Tory chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, welcomed the watchdog’s decision to revoke its licence.
"The ruling is confirmation that the Chinese Communist Party is the ultimate controller of its broadcasts which is not permitted under UK law," he said.
"CGTN had already breached broadcasting codes with a forced confession, and failure on impartiality over coverage of the Hong Kong protests."
In a statement on Friday, CGTN said Ofcom's investigation was "manipulated by extreme right-wing organisations and anti-China forces".
In a separate decision last May, Ofcom found CGTN in “serious failure of compliance” by presenting biased coverage of pro-democracy protests that swept Hong Kong in 2019.
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