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Westminster’s alleged Chinese spy says he is ‘completely innocent’

The man said he had spent his career highlighting the “challenge and threats presented by the Chinese Communist Party”.

The parliamentary researcher arrested in the UK on suspicion of spying for China has insisted he is “completely innocent”.

The arrest under the Official Secrets Act led to UK prime minister Rishi Sunak confronting Chinese premier Li Qiang at the G20 summit in India on Sunday over “unacceptable” interference in democracy.

In a statement released through his lawyers, the researcher – who has not been officially named by police – said: “I feel forced to respond to the media accusations that I am a ‘Chinese spy’.

“It is wrong that I should be obliged to make any form of public comment on the misreporting that has taken place. However, given what has been reported, it is vital that it is known that I am completely innocent.

“I have spent my career to date trying to educate others about the challenge and threats presented by the Chinese Communist Party.

“To do what has been claimed against me in extravagant news reporting would be against everything I stand for.”

He was arrested along with another man by officers on March 13 on suspicion of spying for Beijing.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, which oversees espionage-related offences, are investigating.

One of the men, in his 30s, was detained in Oxfordshire on March 13, while the other, in his 20s, was arrested in Edinburgh, police said.

Both were held on suspicion of offences under section one of the Official Secrets Act 1911, which punishes offences that are said to be “prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state”.

They have been bailed until early October.

The arrests were only revealed at the weekend and the researcher at the centre of the row had links with senior Conservatives, including security minister Tom Tugendhat and Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Alicia Kearns.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle will address MPs about the situation at the start of Monday’s business in the chamber.

The allegations have led to increased pressure from China “hawks” in the Conservative Partyfor the Prime Minister to toughen his stance towards Beijing.

During the Conservative leadership contest last year, Sunak described China as the “biggest long-term threat to Britain” but official language used since he took office has been softer, with the integrated review of foreign and defence policy calling it an “epoch-defining challenge”.

Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch suggested that designating China a threat would “escalate things” with Beijing.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “China is the second largest economy in the world, it’s heavily integrated in our economy as it is with many of our allies. We’re taking the same approach that those countries are taking.”

Badenoch said the UK was taking certain measures including making sure it has proper investment screening.

“We are taking action, what we’re not doing is giving endless running commentary on that because that would actually be more helpful to China than it would be to our security services,” she said.

Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative party leader who has been sanctioned by China, was among Conservatives pressing the Prime Minister to strengthen his language towards Beijing.

He hit out at the “weak” position of not labelling China a threat, saying “The result is that China is penetrating all our institutions from universities to Parliament. Time to speak through strength not weakness.”

Conservative backbencher and Home Affairs Select Committee member Tim Loughton, who has also been sanctioned by Beijing, told Times Radio: “It really is not remotely appropriate that those of us most in the firing line, being sanctioned by China under threat by China, have not been given some briefing about exactly what’s happened.”

China hit out at the arrests and claimed the situation was a “political farce”.

A spokesman for China’s embassy in London said: “The claim that China is suspected of ‘stealing British intelligence’ is completely fabricated and nothing but malicious slander.

“We firmly oppose it and urge relevant parties in the UK to stop their anti-China political manipulation and stop putting on such self-staged political farce.”

Former head of MI6 Sir Alex Younger said co-operation with China is necessary but “just being nice to them doesn’t get you very far”.

He told Today: “China is a fact, it’s a huge country, we’ve got to find ways of engaging with it, and find ways of co-operating with it in important areas like climate change, and sometimes we have to be absolutely prepared to confront it when we believe that our security interests are threatened.”

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    Mute Joe Caulfield
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    May 27th 2018, 7:03 AM

    How does that 60k compare to the 2 million euros Shannon receives from the US military every year?

    351
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    Mute owenmor
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    May 27th 2018, 7:08 AM

    Small change compared to the 2 million Shane Ross wasted on making the public services card mandatory when applying for a driving licence

    222
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    Mute Tom Molloy
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    May 27th 2018, 6:48 AM

    Vandals/ISIS sympathisers that have damaged planes in the past are to blame.

    177
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    Mute Carlin Ite
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    May 27th 2018, 8:12 AM

    @Tom Molloy: ISIS sympathisers would you ever fcuk off.

    136
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    Mute James Maloney
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    May 27th 2018, 11:21 AM

    @Tom Molloy: Good point Tom.

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    Mute Tom Molloy
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    May 27th 2018, 12:34 PM

    @James Maloney: Fear of decapitation is already creating converts/lackeys in Ireland.

    4
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    Mute Ros Aodha
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    May 27th 2018, 9:20 PM

    @Tom Molloy: already happened, Irish people on-board flight on 911, Irish people murdered on a beach in Tunisia, Irish people injured in bataclan. Irish clown who converted having failed to become a priest and blew himself up, Islam isn’t the problem, radicalisation is … Khalid Kelly.

    3
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    Mute Clinton Baptiste
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    May 27th 2018, 7:09 AM

    Surely this man , is the son of god .
    I’d rather American soldiers going through Shannon airport , than Isis or German soldiers .

    122
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    Mute Hugh Corcoran
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    May 27th 2018, 9:14 AM

    @Clinton Baptiste: you’re right, let’s allow the biggest war morgering nation on the planet use Shannon. You never know, if we ever find any meaningful resources in the country, might just save us from receiving a good old dose of American freedom. In saying that I could be tempted with a bit of regime change.

    68
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    Mute Sean Conway
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    May 27th 2018, 9:22 AM

    @Clinton Baptiste: Look at all the lives saved by US forces in the middle east. the nation of peace.

    31
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    Mute Clinton Baptiste
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    May 27th 2018, 9:36 AM

    @Hugh Corcoran: I’m not happy about military planes going through Shannon.
    It’s the government who allow this , most Irish people don’t want it .
    But if I had to choose between Isis , Germany , or the democratic people’s republic of Korea , I’d choose America .

    17
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    Mute Clinton Baptiste
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    May 27th 2018, 9:41 AM

    @Sean Conway: They’re wrong in what they do , I agree .
    Iraq was a land grab , 100% .
    Now I can’t control the world , but if I could vote , my preference wouldn’t be for the ideology that led 19 men to fly planes into buildings .

    7
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    Mute Seamus Mac
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    May 27th 2018, 10:02 AM

    @Hugh Corcoran: “biggest war mongering nation” I’d say the Russians have that accolade at the moment: Crimea, Ukraine, Syria etc.

    23
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    Mute Hatchjaw
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    May 27th 2018, 1:06 PM

    @Clinton Baptiste: How do you know what most Irish people want?

    7
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    Mute Derek Teeling
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    May 27th 2018, 1:42 PM

    @Clinton Baptiste: Gobsiht

    6
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    Mute Clinton Baptiste
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    May 27th 2018, 5:53 PM

    @Hatchjaw: I put on a high -viz and poll them .
    On my days off I just listen to them at work .

    1
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    Mute Denis McClean
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    May 28th 2018, 1:44 AM

    @Seamus Mac: So what percentage of the Crimean population is Russian and isn’t Obama on record as saying he wanted regime change in Syria? I’m thinking you might not be as Irish as your name suggests David.

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    Mute Scott Crossfield
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    May 27th 2018, 7:48 AM

    Times have changed as they’ve moved most of their stuff out to Belfast and other places so the tree huggers and the odd couple will have achieved most of their goals. While cutting deeper into Shannon’s downward spiral

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    Mute White Rabbit
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    May 27th 2018, 8:17 AM

    @Scott Crossfield: good stuff

    18
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    Mute Declan Byrne
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    May 27th 2018, 7:42 AM

    We need to allow the Americans use this as a permanent Air Force base . That give Mick something to give out about .

    87
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    Mute Martin Stapleton
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    May 27th 2018, 7:44 AM

    Look,
    Imagine if you said that the cost of each stop off was €722-00. Just doesn’t feel so good when you’re trying to create a headline I guess. Let it go for God sake.

    78
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    Mute Clinton Baptiste
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    May 27th 2018, 8:07 AM

    @Martin Stapleton: They could tell us how much was spent in the duty free shop .
    If Mick Wallace is reading this , Mick , only duty free shops are exempt from paying certain taxes , everyone else needs to pay theirs .

    99
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    Mute Seth Cheffetz
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    May 27th 2018, 8:27 AM

    How does 60k compare to the millions when the Queen visited? Or when the Pope makes his visit?

    47
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    Mute Steve1234
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    May 27th 2018, 7:23 AM

    Rather spend money here than the huge amount of tax payers money (of which a third are opposed) that will be used to fund the slaughter of unborn Irish babies.

    44
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    Mute Rob Lyn
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    May 27th 2018, 11:00 AM

    So the salary of one or two officers. That is shocking! :) still less than a certain TDs avoided taxes and less than his current salary. This is really a non story journal!

    27
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    Mute Cheryl Mellett
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    May 27th 2018, 10:05 AM

    The reason the figure is so low is The Defence Forces don’t get paid overtime. They get very small rates of substitution allowance to cover meals and very basic expenses. For 12 hours it’s aprox 40 euro.

    23
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    Mute Clinton Baptiste
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    May 27th 2018, 10:53 AM

    @Cheryl Mellett: can you imagine joining an army , and your job is cleaning up after real soldiers .

    12
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    Mute Moss Cotter
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    May 27th 2018, 8:30 AM

    Always be thankful the Nazis never invaded Ireland during ww2 for the simple reason that it would have been very embarrassing to see how eager a little helper paddy would have been in shipping out Jewish population for extermation..ah but I hear you cry there might have been a few bob in it

    42
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    Mute Clinton Baptiste
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    May 27th 2018, 10:50 AM

    @Moss Cotter: At least nowadays we don’t do what the Germans want .
    Oh wait !

    9
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    Mute Ros Aodha
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    May 27th 2018, 7:30 PM

    Not bad for a non neutral state providing support to a strategic ally and trading partner. Have you compared that with the garda bill for the same operation? I’ve enjoyed watching this non news item getting slated. The real story here is the low pay that our enlisted soldiers are on.

    7
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    Mute Stewart O Neill
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    May 27th 2018, 12:24 PM

    Hope the US are getting the bill

    4
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    Mute Clinton Baptiste
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    May 27th 2018, 6:12 PM

    @Stewart O Neill: Israel pays for it , after they take it out of the ANC budget .
    Sticking babies in microwaves is cheaper than buying bullets .

    1
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    Mute Paul Whitehead
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    May 28th 2018, 12:15 AM

    Why are we not using this money on the truly needy? You could dress Clare Daly and Mick Wallace in lovely clothes for a fraction of that 60k.

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    Mute Stevie Doran
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    May 27th 2018, 11:39 PM

    Who cares Mick Wallace

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    Mute William Kelly
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    May 28th 2018, 6:49 AM

    Shure, what else would the army be doing, only protecting the States from protesters.
    Can’t have any of that carry on that might upset inward investment like Doonbeg & the vulture funds.
    Never mind that several wars are being supplied through neutral Ireland.

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    Mute Roner555
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    May 27th 2018, 8:21 PM

    Probably psed of that they are not using Dublin airport

    1
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