China's intelligence service conducted "large scale espionage operations" against the UK - accessing classified government computer systems for over a decade - a senior British government official told prosecutors in a case against two Brits allegedly involved - which collapsed in court. 

And why did said case collapse? Because the left-wing Labour government failed to refer to China as a threat to national security, so prosecutors could not produce evidence to bolster that claim, the UK's director of public prosecutions - as well as opposition conservatives who say Labour has been "too weak to stand up to Beijing on a crucial matter of national security."

Starmer has been criticized by conservative politicians for pursuing a thaw in relations with Beijing, despite a mountain of evidence that China is behind various cyber-attacks and espionage attacks in the UK. He also faces pressure from members of his own cabinet not to approve China's new mega-embassy in London.

As Bloomberg reports, Chinese hackers infiltrated UK computer systems for over a decade, routinely accessing "low- and medium-level classification information on UK government servers," including information marked "official-sensitive" and "secret"  - along with some material on the government's secure IT networks, according to anonymous sources. 

The data accessed included confidential documents relating to the formulation of government policy, private communications and some diplomatic cables, the people said. One described Chinese efforts to access British government systems as endless. Information and intelligence deemed top secret was not believed to have been compromised and is held securely, the people said, pushing back against a report Wednesday in The Times newspaper.

One compromise related to a data center in London used to store some sensitive government information, which was sold to an entity aligned to China when the Conservatives were in power, flagging major security concerns, one of the people said, confirming a report in the Spectator. Ministers in the then government briefly proposed a plan to destroy the data center before it was made secure in a different way, they added. -BBG

The UK's documents classification system has three levels;

• Official - which "includes routine business operations and services, some of which could have damaging consequences if lost, stolen, or published in the media, but which are not subject to a heightened threat profile."

• Secret - some of which was asked accessed by China, and is "where compromise might seriously damage military capabilities, international relations or the investigation of serious organized crime."

• Top Secret - the government's "most sensitive information, requiring the highest levels of protection from the most serious threats, where compromise might cause widespread loss of life or else threaten the security or economic wellbeing of the country."

According to Matthew Collins, the UK's deputy national security adviser, the alleged activities of two men accused of spying for China were "prejudicial to the safety or interests of the UK," and that "information and material" passed along to Beijing would be "directly or indirectly" useful to the Chinese state. Collins also emphasized to prosecutors that Britain was committed to "pursuing a positive relationship with China to strengthen understanding, cooperation and stability." 

Christopher Cash, 30, a former researcher for a Conservative MP, and Christopher Berry, a 33-year-old teacher, both denied allegations that they passed sensitive information to an alleged Chinese intelligence agent between 2021 and 2023. The Crown Prosecution Service unexpectedly dropped the charges against them last month, prompting a political backlash. -Politico

"I cannot understand why the CPS took the nuclear option of collapsing this case rather than leaving it to a jury,"  Emily Thornberry, who chairs the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, told the House of Commons on Thursday. 

Another MP, Matt Western - who chairs the Joint Committee on National Security - told the chamber that his panel will hold an inquiry into the case "as soon as we possibly can.

On Wednesday evening, the UK government published three witness statements provided by Collins to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) between December 2023 and August 2025 - in which Collins says Chinese intelligence services are "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."

Yet, like a stockholmed rape victim he also said that the UK is committed to a "positive" relationship with Beijing, and that the official government position was to "co-operate where we can; compete where we need to; and challenge where we must, including on issues of national security."

Last year, Bloomberg reported that British government officials feared Chinese state actors had made widespread and likely successful efforts to access British critical infrastructure networks.

Earlier on Wednesday, former premier Boris Johnson’s chief of staff in Downing Street, Dominic Cummings, told The Times newspaper that China had hacked secret information from the British government’s classified computer system.

“Vast amounts of data classified as extremely secret and extremely dangerous for any foreign entity to control was compromised,” Cummings said.

China Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters in Beijing that the accusations are "purely vilification," adding "we urge relevant personnel in the UK to stop their baseless hypes and stop this kind of political manipulation."

Yet, Ciaran Martin - former head of the UK's National Cyber Security Centre, told Bloomberg that "for many years China has been, and continues to be, a significant cybersecurity threat to Britain and British interests," adding that "Chinese state actors target British government, commercial and other networks for espionage purposes."

That said, Martin said that China hadn't managed to access systems containing "highly classified state secrets."