Chinese state media gets rare response from British spy chief after posting ‘rib-tickling’ spy spoof online
- Sketch by official Xinhua news agency used fictitious spies named ‘James Pond’ and ‘Black Window’ plus canned laughter to attack British and US intelligence
- MI6 head Richard Moore thanked the agency on Twitter for the ‘free publicity’ and provided a link to a speech warning of Chinese ‘political coercion’
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Moore – code-named “C” within the agency – previously said adapting to China’s rise was the spy service’s “single greatest priority” and warned of Chinese “debt traps, data exposure and vulnerability to political coercion”.
In a tongue-in-cheek Twitter post on Tuesday, state news agency Xinhua said it had uncovered “leaked video” of a “secret meeting” between British and American spies after Moore bumped Beijing higher on MI6’s agenda.
The attached clip – titled No Time to Die Laughing – featured a pair of Chinese actors playing fictional British spies called “James Pond” and “Black Window”.
In his Thursday response, Moore tweeted: “Thank you for your interest (and the unexpected free publicity!).”
He posted a link to a speech he gave in November in which he said China sought to “exploit the open nature” of British society and “distort public discourse and political decision making across the globe”.
In four and a half minutes of what Xinhua called “rib-tickling moments” filled with canned laughter, the elegantly dressed duo enter a castle and start discussing a dossier on Chinese espionage tactics, only to realise the papers actually refer to the United States.
Pond – code-named “Agent 0.07” – then blasts the “fictional Chinese debt trap and data trap” as a “pathetic” excuse to get more funding for British intelligence.
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In a call with an apparent CIA operative, Pond learns the US has tapped his mobile phone.
He is warned not to buy a model made by sanctioned Chinese company Huawei Technologies due to a supposed “back door”, before being gifted a new phone by the CIA.
“To be America’s enemy is dangerous,” says the champagne-swilling Pond. “But to be America’s friend is fatal.”
