Military Intelligence, Section 5 (MI5), the Security Service of the United Kingdom, has warned Cabinet ministers that “Chinese spies” are slipping into the country by obtaining citizenship in third countries and using their visa-free access to the UK, Sputnik reported.
A British newspaper citing senior government sources, reported that MI5 has provided evidence showing nationals of hostile countries, including China, have entered the UK after obtaining citizenship in countries whose citizens are allowed to enter the UK without visas. MI5 reportedly fears that agents working for the Chinese government could be among those people.
The issue has driven the UK Home Office to prepare new visa restrictions against several countries through which “Chinese spies” are entering the territory of the UK.
The UK Foreign Office has however allegedly blocked the measure, resulting in some government ministers nicknaming UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly as “Mr Softy,” the report said.
MI5 has reportedly suggested that agents of Russia’s special services could resort to the same measures to enter the territory of the UK.
Meanwhile, it was reported that Chinese police have been using spies to ensure that Uyghur Muslims do not fast during the holy month of Ramzan.
The spies, which Chinese officials call “ears”, are drawn from ordinary citizens, police and members of neighbourhood committees, Radio Free Asia reported citing a police officer from an area near Turpan, or Tulufan in Chinese, in eastern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Speaking to Radio Free Asia, the police officer said, “We have many secret agents.”
China started banning Muslims in Xinjiang from fasting during Ramzan in 2017 when authorities started arbitrarily detaining Uyghurs in “re-education” camps amid efforts to diminish Uyghur culture, language and religion, as per the news report.