LONDON — British police on Monday (April 22) charged two men with spying for China, including one reported to have worked as a researcher in UK's parliament for a prominent lawmaker in the governing Conservative Party.

Anxiety has mounted across Europe about China's alleged espionage activity and UK has become increasingly vocal about its concerns in recent months.

The two men, aged 32 and 29, were charged with providing prejudicial information to China in breach of the Official Secrets Act, and will appear in court on Friday.

"This has been an extremely complex investigation into what are very serious allegations," said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Counter Terrorism Command at the Metropolitan Police.

The Chinese embassy in London said the allegation that China was trying to steal British intelligence was "completely fabricated".

"We firmly oppose it and urge the UK side to stop anti-China political manipulation and stop putting on such self-staged political farce," an embassy spokesperson said in a statement.

One of the men was named by police on Monday as Christopher Cash.

Related

---