Former UK Diplomat Fraser Cameron is suspected of handing over information to Chinese spies posing as Belgian journalists.
It is suspected that he sold the information for thousands of euros. However, when speaking to The Times, Cameron denied the allegations, calling them “ridiculous”. He went on to claim that he had no access to sensitive or confidential information held by the Foreign Office or the European Commission.
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Cameron is the director of EU-Asia Centre, which describes itself as “the leading Brussels-based research-policy think tank on EU-Asia relations, covering developments in Asia and relations between the EU and Asia”.
But an unnamed Whitehall official told the BBC that the investigation into this had gone on for months and that finally a breakthrough had been reached.
Contacted by POLITICO for comment, Cameron said in an e-mail that the allegations “are without foundation”.
He stressed that he has “a wide range of Chinese contacts as part of my duties with the EU-Asia Centre and some of them may have a double function”, but added: “I retired 15 years ago from official employment and have zero access to any sensitive information.”
The information given over is believed not to have been classified, but is regarded as confidential political and economic information on European institutions.
Fraser admits that the EU-Asia Centre receives a “small” grant from the Chinese Diplomatic Mission to organise EU and Chinese relations.
“This is the only funding received from the Chinese,” he said.
One anonymous official in the EU Commission said Cameron was known to be “very close to Beijing”.
However, in Belgium, espionage is not classified as a crime. Therefore, prosecutors would have to find evidence of other criminal offences in order to press charges.
