Defendant Chung Biu Yuen is being charged with aiding Hong Kong's foreign intelligence service, in London, Britain. Photo: REUTERS/Toby Melville
Three men who were charged with assisting Hong Kong's foreign intelligence service in Britain appeared in a London court on Monday after a series of arrests across England.
Chung Biu Yuen, 63, Chi Leung Wai, also known as Peter Wai, 38, and Matthew Trickett, 37, were arrested earlier this month following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command.
The trio were each charged with two offences under Britain's National Security Act, which was passed last year and introduced new measures to target threats from foreign states.
They are accused of assisting a foreign intelligence service between December and May by "agreeing to undertake information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception" in Britain, according to the charges.
Hong Kong was under British rule for 156 years before reverting to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
The Chinese Embassy in London accused Britain of fabricating the charges and said it had no right to interfere in Hong Kong's affairs.
"The UK side must not go further down the wrong path of jeopardising China-UK relations," the embassy in London said in a statement.
Spying allegations against China and Russia have been piling up in Western nations in recent years. Beijing and Moscow have dismissed them as part of a global smear campaign.
The second charge alleges the three men conducted "foreign interference" by forcing entry into a residential address in Britain on May 1.
The three men appeared in the dock at Westminster Magistrates' Court, where they spoke only to confirm their names, dates of birth and address.
They were not asked to enter any pleas to the charges and they will next appear in court at London's Old Bailey court on May 24. All three men were granted bail.
The Metropolitan Police earlier said a total of 11 people were detained this month, nearly all in the Yorkshire area of northern England.
"While these offences are concerning, I want to reassure the public that we do not believe there to be any wider threat to them," Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, said in a statement.
Seven men and one woman who were not charged were released from custody, police said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.
Police said the charges against the three men were not linked to a separate investigation involving Russia, which was also conducted under the same national security law.
In a statement, Hong Kong's government said it had demanded that Britain provide all the relevant information in connection with the charges and that it was waiting for a response.
Source: Reuters
三名男子在英國法庭出庭，被控幫助香港外國情報部門
三名被控協助香港駐英國外國情報部門的男子週一在倫敦一家法院出庭，此前他們在英國各地遭到一系列逮捕。
鐘標源（Chung Biu Yuen），63歲，Chi Leung Wai，又名Peter Wai，38歲，以及馬修·特里克特（Matthew Trickett），37歲，本月早些時候在倫敦警察廳反恐司令部調查後被捕。
根據去年通過的英國國家安全法案，這三人分別被指控犯有兩項罪行，該法案引入了針對外國威脅的新措施。
指控稱，他們被指控在 12 月至 5 月期間協助外國情報部門「同意在英國進行資訊收集、監視和欺騙行為」。
香港在英國統治下長達 156 年，之後於 1997 年回歸中國。
中國駐倫敦大使館指責英國捏造指控，並表示無權干涉香港事務。
英國駐倫敦大使館在聲明中表示，「英方絕不能在損害中英關係的錯誤道路上越走越遠」。
近年來，針對中國和俄羅斯的間諜指控在西方國家不斷增加。 北京和莫斯科已將其視為全球抹黑運動的一部分而予以駁回。
第二項指控稱，三名男子於 5 月 1 日強行進入英國的一個居住地址，進行「外國干涉」。
這三名男子出現在威斯敏斯特地方法院的被告席上，他們只是為了確認自己的姓名、出生日期和地址而發言。
他們沒有被要求對指控提出任何抗辯，接下來他們將於 5 月 24 日在倫敦老貝利法院出庭。
英國倫敦警察廳稍早表示，本月共有 11 人被拘留，幾乎全部集中在英格蘭北部的約克郡地區。
大都會反恐司令部司令多米尼克·墨菲在一份聲明中表示：“雖然這些罪行令人擔憂，但我想向公眾保證，我們認為他們不會受到任何更廣泛的威脅。”
警方表示，未被指控的七名男子和一名女子已被釋放，並補充說調查仍在進行中。
警方表示，三名男子的指控與涉及俄羅斯的單獨調查無關，該調查也是根據同一國家安全法進行的。
香港政府在聲明中表示，已要求英國提供與這些指控有關的所有相關信息，並正在等待回應。
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