Is London failing to prevent Chinese espionage?
Charges against two British citizens accused of passing state secrets to Beijing were dropped in September, but only now has the main reason for the acquittal been revealed: the government's refusal to officially classify China as a "threat to national security", which is a prerequisite for a conviction. Critics see the decision as politically motivated rather than legally justified.
Averting our eyes
The British government is not doing enough to protect the country from Chinese espionage, The Times criticises:
“China - or to be precise the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) - is busy in this country, stealing intellectual property, conducting cyber-espionage, cowing dissent, curbing academic freedom, buying influence, building economic bridgeheads and snooping on our politics. The fiasco around the failed prosecution of two young men alleged to have been collecting information about our politicians for Beijing's benefit highlights the dishonest and feeble response from people who should be protecting us.”
Xi reacts to strength, not weakness
The Independent also complains that London is too afraid of friction with Beijing:
“Hence, the dithering over China's vast new London 'mega-embassy', the laughable refusal to publish in full a China policy audit, which is assuredly in the hands of Beijing, and now a legal fiasco that can, thankfully, be blamed in part on the last government. ... Weakness does not work with Xi Jinping; he is a ruler who respects strength. Untroubled at home by legal niceties, he will use any means, as a trained communist, to advance the cause. The task for democracies is to use the laws at their disposal with tough counterespionage and political determination. So far, Britain has not met that test.”