Trump’s treasury secretary Scott Bessent lashes out at ‘weak’ China October 14, 2025 Markets have wobbled amid attacks by Scott Bessent on China’s trade policy, after Beijing unveiled sweeping controls on rare earth materials and critical minerals. The US treasury secretary told the Financial Times: “This is a sign of how weak their economy is, and they want to pull everybody else down with them.” He said: “Maybe [...]
Labour dismisses ‘smears’ over Chinese spy case as top Tory calls defence ‘absurd’ October 13, 2025 A senior minister has dismissed accusations that the Labour government deliberately collapsed the Chinese spy case as being a “whole series of baseless smears.” Security minister Dan Jarvis told parliament that the previous Conservative government’s failure to clarify definitions in the Official Secrets Act of 1920 led to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dropping a [...]
Jonathan Powell urged to answer questions on Chinese spy case in public October 13, 2025 National security adviser Jonathan Powell has been urged to answer questions on the collapse of a Chinese spy case in public, with the government doubling down on its defence that it did not subvert the trial to maintain diplomatic ties with Beijing. Powell is set to appear before a private committee in parliament to answer [...]
Badenoch seeks answers from Starmer on China spy case collapse October 13, 2025 Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch has written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer with questions regarding the collapse of the trial of alleged Chinese spies amid a deepening row over Labour’s handling of national security and trade relations with the world’s second largest economy. Badenoch has demanded Starmer come clean on national security adviser Jonathan Powell’s role [...]
China fires back at Trump’s 100% tariff threat as markets jitter October 12, 2025 Just a day after president Donald Trump sent global markets reeling with his promise of a fresh 100 per cent tariff on Chinese imports, Beijing has struck back, accusing the US of “double standards” and warning that it could introduce its own countermeasures. A spokesperson for China’s Commerce Ministry said Washington’s threat to punish Beijing [...]
China’s London mega-embassy plan in limbo amid site security fears October 12, 2025 China’s plans for a new mega-embassy in central London have been thrown into doubt amid mounting national security concerns that the proposed site sits directly above critical fibre-optic cables linked to the UK’s financial networks. The £750m project at Royal Mint Court, the former home of Britain’s coin-maker, located next to the Tower of London, [...]
NBA matches to be staged in China for first time since 2019 October 10, 2025 China will host NBA matches for the first time since 2019 this weekend after six years of being frozen out due to a dispute over Hong Kong. One of the basketball league’s managers stated their support for pro-democracy protestors in Hong Hong back in 2019 and China has since held a hard line on matches [...]
Treasury accused of blocking China audit after espionage trial fiasco October 10, 2025 The Treasury lobbied Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, to block reports on the threat posed by Beijing in the midst of the probe against the two men accused of spying for China. According to The Telegraph, in June, Powell decided the UK government would not publish details about espionage from the Foreign Office’s [...]
Former top security adviser questions Starmer over China trial collapse October 9, 2025 Former national security adviser Lord Sedwill has raised questions over the explanation provided for the collapse of the Chinese spy case involving Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry. Lord Mark Sedwill, a career diplomat and civil servant who served the same role as current national security adviser Jonathan Powell between 2017 and 2020, claimed it was [...]
China spying scandal: What the hell is going on? October 9, 2025 The head of MI5 warns that Chinese spying in the UK is taking place on “an epic scale” – yet the government can’t bring itself to describe China as a threat. What the hell is going on? Sir Ken McCallum, the Director General of MI5, doesn’t make many speeches in public. As one of Britain’s [...]