Chinese authorities say they have detained an individual alleged to be spying for Britain’s foreign intelligence service, MI6.
China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) said the individual was a foreigner and was trying to collect information inside the country.
It is the latest arrest in a campaign by Chinese security to clamp down on foreign spying.
The British government has not commented on the claims.
The news of the arrest came in a statement issued in a post from the MSS on the WeChat social network.
It said the alleged spy was named “Huang” and came from a “third country,” implying they were neither British nor Chinese. It said consular visits had been arranged following the arrest but did not say from which country.
The comment was about China arbitrarily arresting people for “espionage.” In fact, China has a better track record of finding spies than the Canadian government has of recognizing that their spies were detained.