Two men in Britain were convicted on charges of spying for China. This is the first time a British court has found spying for China guilty.
According to the Guardian, the Central Criminal Court in London on the 7th (local time) convicted Chee-long Wai, 38, a Border Force officer at Heathrow Airport, and Cheng-bi Wu-yuen, 65, an official at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, of supporting a foreign intelligence service. The jury returned a guilty verdict by majority. In particular, Chee-long Wai, who handled airport security, was also found guilty of unlawfully accessing Home Office databases.
They were found to have monitored Hong Kong pro-democracy figures using a so-called "shadow operation" method. Among the main targets was politician Nathan Law, who led the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests and went into exile overseas. A bounty of about £100,000 has been placed on him by Chinese authorities.
They were also found to have attempted to break into a Hong Kong pro-democracy group and gather information on figures in British politics. Former Conservative Cabinet Minister Iain Duncan Smith and Labor Party peer Helena Kennedy were reportedly among the targets.
The case came to light when an attempt to kidnap Monica Kung, a woman from Hong Kong, was detected by police. According to the Guardian, they posed as electricians to break into Kung's home and used meticulous tactics, such as spraying water on the floor to stage a flooding situation. They were ultimately arrested at the scene by police who had been wiretapping in advance. Matthew Trickett, a former Royal Marine charged as an accomplice, was found dead a week after being released on bail.
The British government defined the incident as a "violation of sovereignty" and moved to respond firmly. Foreign Minister Dan Jarvis said, "Such activity on behalf of a foreign state can never be tolerated," adding, "We will hold China to account and make clear that such conduct will never be permitted in the U.K." The Foreign Office was reported to be summoning the Chinese ambassador to the U.K. to lodge a protest.