British authorities on Monday said that they were dropping a criminal case against two men who had been accused of spying for China in the UK, including a former researcher who worked in the parliament.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said it was “extremely disappointing” that Christopher Cash, 30, and Christopher Berry, 33, would not face trial, but prosecutors said there was not enough evidence to proceed. Both men have denied wrongdoing.
The men had been charged in April last year with contravening the Official Secrets Act by providing information or documents that could be “useful to an enemy” and “prejudicial to the safety or interests” of the UK between late 2021 and February 2023.
Photo: Reuters
Cash was a parliamentary researcher who led the China Research Group. He worked closely with senior lawmakers focused on security and foreign affairs from the Conservative Party, which was in power at the time. The speaker of the House of Commons previously confirmed that he was a parliamentary pass holder at the time of the alleged offenses.
Berry is reportedly an academic based in Oxfordshire who had taught in China since 2015.
They were accused of being in contact with each other and a person suspected of being a Chinese intelligence agent.
The men were due to go on trial next month at London’s Central Criminal Court, but prosecutors on Monday said that the case could not continue.
“The evidence in this case has been kept under continuous review and it has now been determined that the evidential standard for the offense indicted is no longer met,” the Crown Prosecution Service said.
The Chinese embassy in the UK has called the allegations fabricated.
“It is extremely disappointing that these individuals will not face trial,” Starmer’s office said. “Any attempt by a foreign power to infiltrate our parliament or democracy is unacceptable.”
A ship that appears to be taking on the identity of a scrapped gas carrier exited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, showing how strategies to get through the waterway are evolving as the Middle East war progresses. The vessel identifying as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Jamal left the Strait on Friday morning, ship-tracking data show. However, the same tanker was also recorded as having beached at an Indian demolition yard in October last year, where it is being broken up, according to market participants and port agent’s reports. The ship claiming to be Jamal is likely a zombie vessel that
Japan is to downgrade its description of ties with China from “one of its most important” in an annual diplomatic report, according to a draft reviewed by Reuters, as relations with Beijing worsen. This year’s Diplomatic Bluebook, which Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is expected to approve next month, would instead describe China as an important neighbor and the relationship as “strategic” and “mutually beneficial.” The draft cites a series of confrontations with Beijing over the past year, including export controls on rare earths, radar lock-ons targeting Japanese military aircraft and increased pressure around Taiwan. The shift in tone underscores a deterioration
LAW CONSTRAINTS: The US has been pressing allies to send warships to open the Strait, but Tokyo’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution Japan could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz if a ceasefire is reached in the war on Iran, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi said yesterday. “If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up,” Motegi said. “This is purely hypothetical, but if a ceasefire were established and naval mines were creating an obstacle, then I think that would be something to consider.” Japan’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution, but 2015 security legislation allows Tokyo to use its Self-Defense Forces overseas if an attack,
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) yesterday faced a regional election battle in Rhineland-Palatinate, now held by the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Merz’s CDU has enjoyed a narrow poll lead over the SPD — their coalition partners at the national level — who have ruled the mid-sized state for 35 years. Polling third is the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which spells a greater threat to the two centrist parties in several state elections in September in the country’s ex-communist east. The picturesque state of Rhineland-Palatinate, bordering France, Belgium and Luxembourg and with a population of about 4 million,
RSS