China says Britain’s MI6 recruited workers from central government agencies

China’s Ministry of State Security said MI6, Britain’s spy agency, had recruited “employees from a central national agency” in a statement Monday morning.

The MSS said a man surnamed Wang and his wife surnamed Zhou had been recruited by MI6 to “collect information for the British”. They claim Wang was targeted by MI6 shortly after arriving in the UK in 2015 as part of a “China-UK exchange programme”.

“MI6 provided Wang with professional espionage training, ordering him to return home and collect important intelligence related to China,” the ministry said, adding that it was “lawfully investigating the couple.”