Live news: China says UK’s MI6 recruited central government agency employees

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

The MSS said that a man surnamed Wang and his wife with the last name Zhou were recruited by MI6 to “collect information for the British”. They allege 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 spy training, directing him to return home and collect important intelligence related to China,” the ministry said, adding that it was “legally investigating the couple”.