Question: On 14 September, the UK government issued a response to the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament report ‘China’ published in July this year. It continued to hype up China's intelligence collection in the UK, and its attempt to penetrate the UK and interfere in the UK’s democracy, and expressed concern about the cyber threat from China. What's your comment?

Embassy Spokesperson: This so-called “China report” by the relevant committee of the UK Parliament made groundless accusations and used fabricated facts to smear China. China already stated its solemn position on it. The UK government’s response to such a false report, which has no factual basis at all, is sheer political manipulation. China firmly opposes and strongly condemns it.

China has always adhered to the principle of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs in our foreign policy. We have no need or interest whatsoever in engaging in intelligence collection or so-called “penetration” or “interference” in the UK.

China is a staunch defender of cyber security and one of the major victims of cyber espionage and attacks. The UK's hype-up of the so-called “cyber threat” from China is a typical example of a thief crying “catch thief”. The UK government’s unprincipled support for this so-called “China report” concocted by politicians with ulterior motives will only make itself a laughing stock and cause serious damage to its own international credibility.

We urge the UK to respect objective facts, stop political manipulation, stop spreading rumours against China, and stop creating obstacles to the development of China-UK relations.