No 10 publishes crucial witness statements in collapsed China spy case

The government repeatedly described China as a “threat” in witness statements Keir Starmer has been forced to publish in an attempt to draw a line under the row over the collapsed China spying case.

Deputy national security adviser Matt Collins said Chinese intelligence services were "highly capable and conduct large scale espionage operations'' against the UK but added the government was "committed to pursuing a positive relationship'' with Beijing.

The documents will pile pressure on the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to explain why it did not press ahead with the case.

The CPS has said the case collapsed because the government’s evidence did not show that China represented a threat to national security at the time of the alleged offences, which took place under the last Tory government.

The statements also state that the two men accused of spying for China met with senior CCP figures.

In his final witness statement in August, Mr Collins said: "As I said in my first statement, the Chinese Intelligence Services are highly capable and conduct large scale espionage operations against the UK to advance the Chinese state's interests and harm the interests and security of the UK.

"Chinese espionage operations threaten the UK's economic prosperity and resilience and the integrity of our democratic institutions."

But he also added: "It is important for me to emphasise, however, that the UK government is committed to pursuing a positive relationship with China to strengthen understanding, cooperation and stability.” In an earlier statement in February, he said China was "the biggest state-based threat to the UK's economic security".

He said a "wide range of UK government and commercial targets" had been attacked by "advanced persistent threat" (APT) groups which had been attributed to China's Ministry of State Security.

An APT "uses continuous, clandestine, and sophisticated hacking techniques to gain access to a system and remain inside for a prolonged period of time, with potentially destructive consequences", Mr Collins said.

"In July 2021, the government attributed the hack of Microsoft Exchange servers to the Chinese state linked actors and judged that the purpose of the attack was highly likely to enable large-scale espionage, including acquiring personally identifiable information and intellectual property."

Ministers hope the release of the documents will prove the Labour government did not force the case to collapse.

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