Cameron Summons Chinese Ambassador After Researcher Charged With Spying

Lord Cameron has summoned the Chinese ambassador after two men were charged with spying for Beijing, it was reported on Tuesday. The foreign secretary directed officials to call ambassador Zheng Zeguang in to raise “significant concerns at interference in UK democratic institutions,” a spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) told Mail Online on Tuesday. It came a day after Christopher Cash, 29, a parliamentary researcher who worked with senior Tories on China policy, and Christopher Berry, 32, were charged under Monday with providing prejudicial information to a foreign state, China. The men were first arrested in March last year and released on bail. They are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on April 26, 2024. Mr. Cash, who was named by media outlets before being charged, previously denied allegations against him. In a statement to the MailOnline, an FCDO spokesperson said: “The government does not comment on specific cases while there is an ongoing legal process. The UK government condemns unequivocally any activity that undermines our parliamentary democracy. UK national security is our top priority,” the statement reads. Today, the foreign secretary instructed officials to call in the Chinese ambassador to the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office to set out the UK’s significant concerns at interference in UK democratic institutions. ‘The UK Minister for the Indo-Pacific, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who is on a visit to China, has also set out in a meeting with the Chinese Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs the importance of the UK’s parliamentary democracy and that the UK will always put our national security first,” he said. The FCDO’s “concerns at interference in UK democratic institutions” also came a month after the UK government sanctioned two Chinese hackers following cyber attacks on the Electoral Commission and Parliament. Mr. Cash, of Whitechapel, London, was the director of the influential China Research Group (CRG), which was set up by a group of Conservative MPs skeptical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), until June 2023. He worked for Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, and with her predecessor Tom Tugendhat before he became the security minister. According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), on dates between Jan. 20, 2022, and Feb. 3, 2023, Mr. Cash “for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State, obtained, collected, recorded, published, or communicated to any other person articles, notes, documents or information, which were calculated to be, might be, or were intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy.” Mr. Berry, of Witney, Oxfordshire, was accused of doing the same between Dec. 28, 2021, and Feb. 3, 2023. Both men were charged with offences under the Official Secrets Act 1911. After the men were charged, police Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Counter Terrorism Command, said, “This has been an extremely complex investigation into what are very serious allegations.” Commander Murphy said the police are aware of the public and media interest in the case, and cautioned against comments or speculation that may prejudice the trial. Nick Price, head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, also warned against comments. “Criminal proceedings against the defendants are active. No-one should report, comment, or share information online which could in any way prejudice their right to a fair trial,” he said. The men’s arrests were first revealed in September last year by The Times of London. Following the revelation, MPs critical of the CCP called on the government to officially designate China as a threat. After the men were charged on Monday, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy rejected that the regime is stealing British intelligence, and called the allegations “anti-China political manipulation” and a “self-staged political farce.” Can you rephrase this sentence?

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