UK Lawmaker's Partner Arrested over China Spying Allegations

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The partner of a sitting Labour member of parliament was one of the three men arrested by British police on Wednesday, media reports say.

British police said in a statement that three men were arrested on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service.

That stood in violation of section 3 of the National Security Act, 2023, which was introduced to give authorities greater power to tackle foreign interference.

In the statement, police confirmed that the country in question was China. The statement didn't name the men, in keeping with UK practice.

All three men, aged 39, 43 and 68, remain in custody.

UK media say partner of Labour MP among those accused of spying for China

According to UK media reports, David Taylor, who is married to Joani Reid, the Labour lawmaker representing the East Kilbride area, was arrested.

Reid said in a statement to newspapers like the Times and Telegraph that she had "never seen anything to make me suspect my husband has broken any law."

"I am not part of my husband’s business activities and neither I nor my children are part of this investigation," it read. "I have never been to China. I have never spoken on China or China-related matters in the (House of) Commons."

Asked about the reports in parliament, Dan Jarvis, the security minister, declined to give any further details. Jarvis said later in a statement: "We will always challenge any country, including China, that attempts to interfere with or undermine the integrity of our democratic institutions." 

Britain under pressure to tackle Chinese security threats

Last November, Britain's domestic intelligence agency warned British lawmakers that China was using headhunters on LinkedIn and other covert operatives to recruit and compromise them.

That rare warning bell came two months after a political scandal erupted in the country over the collapse of an espionage case against two British men accused of passing sensitive information to China.

The new arrests now present a new challenge for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has pledged to reset ties with China after years of mistrust complicated ties between the countries.

Starmer became the first UK leader in eight years to visit Beijing in his bid to expand economic ties with Beijing and as Washington became harder to depend on.

On Wednesday, China's embassy in London said it lodged a protest with the British side and condemned what it called attempts to "fabricate facts and concoct so-called 'espionage cases' to maliciously slander China."

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