Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said Tuesday that any foreign interference in Hong Kong wouldn't be allowed when remarking on reports that the UK's foreign intelligence agency had stepped up espionage activities in Hong Kong since 1997.
"China will not allow any external forces to interfere in Hong Kong's internal affairs and damage Hong Kong's prosperity and stability," said Hong at a daily news briefing, adding that China has the ability and determination to safeguard national security.
Hong's remarks came as two papers claimed that Britain's intelligence agency has been strengthening their activities on the territory since China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997.
Hong Kong-based newspapers Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po Monday released simultaneous reports that both retired and active spies from Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6, serve in Hong Kong in the capacity of consuls or employees at economic and cultural departments, and they are headquartered at the British Consulate-General in Hong Kong.
According to reports, as soon as the Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed in 1984, mandating the return of Hong Kong to China, the British intelligence agency's "political section" in Hong Kong quickly went underground, and has intensified its espionage activities in Hong Kong since 1997.
MI6 possesses a great deal of confidential information about top officials in Hong Kong, which was not destroyed upon the handover in 1997 but was transferred back to London, allowing the British government to use sensitive or embarrassing materials to attack them with the help of its mouthpieces in the city, claimed the Ta Kung Pao.
Meanwhile, the Wen Wei Po claimed many undercover MI6 agents have infiltrated Hong Kong's political parties, judicial sector, commerce chambers, media and key government departments.
The reports come shortly after an opinion piece by British Foreign Office minister Hugo Swire was published in Hong Kong media, stating that "Britain stands ready to support [universal suffrage in Hong Kong] any way we can."