A member of the U.K. government revealed that China’s intelligence services have conducted “large-scale espionage operations” against the country’s security and economy.

According to a senior British official by the name of Matthew Collins, two men were accused of carrying out the alleged activities that were “prejudicial to the safety or interests of the U.K.,” and that “information and material” was passed on by them would be “directly or indirectly” useful to the Chinese state. However, Collins emphasized to U.K. prosecutors that the country was “pursuing a positive relationship with China to strengthen understanding, cooperation and stability.”

Both Christopher Cash, 30, a former researcher for a Conservative MP, and Christopher Berry, a 33-year-old teacher, were accused of spying for a foreign government. Both have also denied the accusation that they passed secrets to China between 2022 and 2023.

It was reported that last month, the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the charges against the pair, which allegedly sparked political backlash. According to the U.K.’s Director of Public Prosecutions, the case against the pair collapsed because there was insufficient evidence regarding China as a national security threat.

Conservatives who were in power at the time when both men were charged in April 2024 blamed the Labor Party, claiming it was “too weak to stand up to Beijing on a crucial matter of national security.”

In a bizarre move, the government reportedly published three witness statements provided by Colling to the CPS between December 2023 and August 2025. In the statement, Collins called the Chinese intelligence services “highly capable and conduct large-scale espionage operations against the UK to advance the Chinese state’s interests and harm the interests and security of the UK.”

“China’s espionage operations threaten the UK’s economic prosperity and resilience, and the integrity of our democratic institutions,” added Collins. In the same statement, Collins emphasized that the government of the U.K. was committed to seeking a “positive” relationship with Beijing.”

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Collins added the government’s position was to “co-operate where we can; compete where we need to; and challenge where we must, including on issues of national security.” It comes as the head of MI5, Sir Ken McCallum, has pledged to “never back off” from confronting Chinese spies.

McCallum warned that Beijing poses a daily threat as it attempts to pilfer state secrets, academic research, business information, and harass and kidnap dissidents residing in the UK. He emphasized that Chinese “state actors” were a threat “last year and the year before that” and will continue to be so “next year.”

In his annual state threat assessment, the Director General of MI5 stated: “MI5 will keep doing what the public should expect of us: preventing, detecting and disrupting activity of national security concern.” He added, “Our track record is strong. We’ve intervened operationally again just in the last week. I am MI5 born and bred. I will never back off from confronting threats to the UK, wherever they are from.”

“Do Chinese state actors present a UK national security threat? The answer is, of course, they do, every day,” said McCallum. “I said that last year, I said it the year before, I said it the year before that. If I’m in this job a year from now, I’m sure I will say it then too.”