China Affirms Not Interested In Collecting Intelligence About Britain

JAKARTA - China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs insists its country is not interested in gathering intelligence on the British Parliament, responding to allegations it calls "baseless."

Earlier, the UK's domestic intelligence agency MI5 sent a warning to lawmakers the country would increase Beijing's intelligence activity.

"Chincak has repeatedly emphasized his seriousness in this matter," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning told Asian correspondent Helen-Ann Smith, launching Sky News November 19.

"We firmly oppose these baseless accusations and the excessive depiction and sensationalism that projects a person's bias on others," Mao explained.

"Decisions based on misinformation will only be misleading," he continued.

In its warning, MI5 notified lawmakers that Bamboo Curtain State spies targeted them by posing as headhunters or companies to make contact, with two people contacting via LinkedIn to "reach on a large scale on behalf of" the Chinese government.

UK Security Secretary Dan Jarvis told parliament the warning revealed Beijing's "screened and planned efforts" to interfere in British politics and said the government would launch a counter-spionage plan to address the threat, as quoted by the Daily Sabah.

Last October, UK Security Secretary Dan Jarvis told parliament the warning revealed Beijing's "screened and planned efforts" to interfere in British politics and said the government would launch a counter-spionage plan to address the threat.

In his annual speech last month, MI5 Director Ken McCallum said Chinese spies pose a national security threat every day and his service has "interferred operationally" to China just a week earlier.

Mao emphasized that China has never interfered in the domestic affairs of other countries.

"Childs have never interfered in the internal affairs of other countries, nor have they been interested in gathering so-called intelligence about Britain's parliament," he stressed.