BRITAIN’S spy chief thanked China’s state news agency for “free publicity” today, after it posted a spoof of James Bond that mocked the Western intelligence community’s growing focus on threats posed by Beijing.

MI6 head Richard Moore’s rare response comes as Britain and China clash over Beijing’s treatment of the Uighur community and creeping authoritarianism in former British colony Hong Kong.

Moore – codenamed “C” within the agency – had previously said adapting to China’s rise is the spy service’s “single greatest priority” and warned of Chinese “debt traps, data exposure and vulnerability to political coercion”.

Debt traps refer to China extracting concessions such as the use of ports from countries that sign up to its soft-power infrastructure initiative when they default on loan repayments.

In a tongue-in-cheek Twitter post on Tuesday, state news agency Xinhua said it has uncovered “leaked video” of a “secret meeting” between American and British 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 “Black Window” and “James Pond”.

Moore tweeted today: “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 seeks 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 (US).

Pond – codenamed Agent 0.07 – then blasts the “fictional Chinese debt and data trap” as a “pathetic” excuse to get more funding for British intelligence.

In a call with an apparent CIA operative, Pond learns that the US has tapped his mobile phone.

He is warned not to buy a model made by sanctioned Chinese company Huawei due to a supposed “backdoor”, 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.”

Britain caused outrage in China last year after blocking the involvement of telecoms giant Huawei from involvement in its 5G broadband roll-out, after the US raised spying concerns. – AFP, January 6, 2022.