3 Men Held by UK Police on Suspicion of China-Related Spying

British police said on Wednesday they had arrested three men on suspicion of assisting China's foreign intelligence service, and local media reported one was the partner of a sitting lawmaker, in the latest U.K. accusations of spying by Beijing.

In recent years, relations between Britain and China have been strained by tit-for-tat spying accusations.

Last November, Britain's MI5 security service warned lawmakers about attempts by Chinese agents to collect information and influence activity at Westminster, which the government labeled "a covert and calculated attempt"by China to interfere in British politics.

Police said counter-terrorism officers had arrested a 39-year-old man in London and two people, aged 68 and 43, in Wales, and had searched properties in London, Cardiff, and East Kilbride in Scotland. The suspects are being held in custody.

In keeping with usual U.K. police practice, none were named, but opposition lawmaker Alex Burghart said in parliament that the Guardian and the BBC had "reported that one of those arrested is the spouse of a sitting Labour MP, and that another is the spouse of a former Labour MP."

Joani Reid, the Labour lawmaker for the East Kilbride area, whose husband was reported to have been arrested by the Times and Telegraph newspapers, issued a statement saying she had "never seen anything to make me suspect my husband has broken any law."

"I am not part of my husband’s business activities and neither I nor my children are part of this investigation," it read. "I have never been to China. I have never spoken on China or China-related matters in the (House of) Commons."

There was no immediate comment from the Labour Party.

In a statement, the Chinese embassy in London condemned what it called attempts to "fabricate facts and concoct so-called 'espionage cases' to maliciously slander China," and said it had lodged a protest with the British side.

Asked about the reports in parliament, security minister Dan Jarvis declined to give any further details. The latest arrests were made under the National Security Act passed in 2023, introduced to give greater powers to tackle foreign interference. Jarvis said in a statement after the arrests that the government was working on new powers.

"We will always challenge any country, including China, that attempts to interfere with or undermine the integrity of our democratic institutions," Jarvis said. "We will always prioritize UK national security."

MI5 chief Ken McCallum said in October Chinese spies posed a daily national security threat and his agency subsequently warned that Chinese spies were posing as headhunters or companies to make contact with lawmakers.

The accusations have cast a pall over attempts by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who visited China in January, to improve relations with Beijing. Britain in January approved China's plans to build Beijing's largest embassy in Europe in London, leading critics to accuse Starmer of prioritizing economic prospects over security risks.

Separately on Wednesday, two men went on trial in London accused by British prosecutors of carrying out hostile surveillance on well-known pro-democracy dissidents for Hong Kong and, ultimately, China.