Foreign minister David Lammy told parliament the Labour administration would invest �600 million ($818 million) in its intelligence services as a result of the findings.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer commissioned an "audit" of Britain's relations with Beijing after he swept to power in landslide general election win last July.
The report, published on Tuesday, recommended high-level engagement with China for a "trade and investment relationship" but also building "resilience" against threats posed by Beijing.
"We understand that China is a sophisticated and persistent threat," but "not engaging with China is therefore no choice at all", Lammy told MPs.
"Like our closest allies, we will co-operate where we can and we will challenge where we must," he said, vowing that meant "never compromising on our national security".
Starmer has vowed to pursue a "consistent" relationship after the previous Conservative government first trumpeted a "golden era" of close diplomatic ties before relations became increasingly strained.
The British PM hopes Chinese investment can help him achieve his main mission of firing up Britain's economy.
But differences over Russia's war in Ukraine, Beijing's treatment of Uyghurs and Hong Kong -- including the imprisonment of media mogul Jimmy Lai -- pose hurdles to repairing relations.
In a joint letter coordinated by Reporters Without Borders, 33 organisations around the globe wrote to Starmer on Tuesday asking him to meet Lai's son Sebastian.
"As a British citizen facing an unthinkable ordeal, Sebastien Lai deserves to hear first-hand from the Prime Minister what the UK is doing to secure his father's release," said the letter, which was signed by groups including Amnesty International UK and Human Rights Foundation.
Espionage allegations have also blighted the relationship in recent years, including claims that a Chinese businessman used his links with Britain's Prince Andrew to spy for the Communist Party.
The report noted that "instances of China's espionage, interference in our democracy and the undermining of our economic security have increased in recent years".
"Our national security response will therefore continue to be threat-driven, bolstering our defences and responding with strong counter-measures," the government said.
Starmer's administration is due to rule on whether to approve Beijing's controversial plans to open the biggest embassy in Britain at a new London location.
Residents, rights groups and China hawks oppose the development, fearing it could be used for the surveillance and harassment of dissidents.
China calls CIA videos 'absurd' attempt to recruit spies
Beijing (AFP) June 25, 2025 -
Beijing accused the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on Wednesday of making an "absurd" attempt to recruit Chinese citizens via videos posted to social media.
China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) said the placement of what amounted to job advertisements on social media platform X was an "amateurish gambit" to convince people to spy for the Americans.
"These two painstakingly crafted 'job ads', riddled with clumsy rhetoric and slanderous claims, lay bare the absurd logic and paranoid delusions of American intelligence agencies," the ministry said in a statement posted to its official WeChat account.
"Once again, the self-proclaimed 'world's top intelligence power' has turned itself into an international laughingstock through its baffling incompetence," it added.
CIA director John Ratcliffe said that the videos posted last month -- which implored the sharing of state secrets -- were aimed at "recruiting Chinese officials to help the US".
Beijing condemned the posts at the time as "naked political provocation".
The MSS vowed on Wednesday to "resolutely protect the nation's strategic interests and core secrets".
It warned the CIA that "any attempt to incite betrayal among the Chinese people is doomed to fail, and any plot to infiltrate China for intelligence will prove futile".
The intelligence agency's diatribe was among the top trending items on China's X-like Weibo platform on Wednesday, with users mocking the alleged job ads.
"Can we organise a group of scammers to carry out a telecom fraud against the CIA? We can trick the US and make a little money at the same time," one wrote.
The United States and China have long traded accusations of espionage.
In April, security officials said they had implicated three US "secret agents" in cyberattacks during February's Asian Winter Games in the northeastern city of Harbin.
The MSS said in March it had sentenced to death a former engineer for leaking state secrets to a foreign power.
Related Links
Cyberwar - Internet Security News - Systems and Policy Issues
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
