Christopher Cash (left) and Christopher Berry. Photo: AFP

The UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said that a case involving alleged Chinese espionage in parliament collapsed after the government refused to provide evidence that China was a threat to UK national security, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. 

In a letter on Tuesday, the CPS said it had repeatedly asked the government in recent months to provide evidence that China was a threat to national security at the time of the alleged offences, but was rebuffed.

The government's refusal to provide the evidence, the CPS said, was the "key reason" it dropped the case, according to the report.

Christopher Berry, 33, a teacher from Witney in Oxfordshire, and Christopher Cash, 30, a parliamentary researcher from Whitechapel in London, were arrested in March 2023 as part of an investigation that involved counter-terror police, the BBC reported.

They were accused of gathering and providing information prejudicial to the safety and interests of the state between December 2021 and February 2023, according to the report.

Regarding the CPS' decision to drop the charges, a spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy in London said last month they have emphasized from the outset that the allegations that China instructed the relevant British individuals to "steal British intelligence" are entirely fabricated and a malicious slander, which the embassy firmly rejects. "We urge certain individuals in the UK to stop this kind of self-staged anti-China political farce," the spokesperson said on September 15. 

An earlier Financial Times report published on Monday said the prosecution fell apart after security officials said they would not provide testimony that China could be defined as an "enemy," an important element for a prosecution under the Official Secrets Act, which the alleged spies had been charged with breaching.

The decision by prosecutors to drop the case came after a huge dispute that pitted the UK government's international security advisers and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) against the Home Office, with the latter wanting to press ahead with the case. The fight blew up at a meeting in September, officials said, media reported on Tuesday.

Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, believes that the outcome of the case reflects there are still sharp divisions within the UK on China-related issues. 

It is worth noting that certain forces in the UK have continued to hype up the already dismissed China-related espionage case, and this is not purely out of national security concerns, Li Guanjie, a research fellow with the Shanghai Academy of Global Governance and Area Studies under the Shanghai International Studies University, told the Global Times on Wednesday. "They are trying to amplify the contradictions within the Labour Party regarding national security and China policy, so as to gain an advantage in public opinion," Li said. 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer sought to defend his government's position on Tuesday, suggesting to reporters the evidence had to reflect the position of the previous Conservative government towards China when the offences were said to have taken place. 

Number 10's press secretary said on Monday "the suggestion that the government withheld evidence, withdrew witnesses or restricted the ability of a witness to draw on a particular bit of evidence are all untrue," the BBC reported. Sky News also cited Emma Hardy, a Labour minister, as saying that there was "absolutely no pressure" from the UK government to drop the case over fears of calling China an enemy.

Experts urge that China-UK relations should be based on a long-term perspective and committed to building a stable relationship, and both sides need to be alert to the malicious saboteurs in the UK and prevent them from undermining the overall interests of China-UK relations.