Beijing says it's "verifying" claims on Ukraine's detention of Chinese duo over spy allegations

China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning has said her country is “still verifying” information regarding claims made by Ukraine that it arrested two Chinese citizens over suspected smuggling of classified documents.

“If this is concerned with Chinese citizens, then the lawful rights of Chinese citizens need to be safeguarded,” Ning told a live-streamed news conference in Beijing, Caliber.Az reports.

On July 9, Kyiv claimed that it detained two Chinese citizens suspected of trying to smuggle classified documents on a Ukrainian missile system out of the country.

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said that the two Chinese nationals were detained in the capital Kyiv, and are suspected of trying to smuggle classified documents on the RK-360MC Neptune missile system. It added that the system was used by Ukraine to sink the Russian missile cruiser Moskva.

According to the SBU investigation, one of those detained is a former student who was expelled from one of the technical universities in the Ukrainian capital in 2023.

“Another defendant is his father, who permanently resided in China but periodically visited Ukraine to personally coordinate his son's spy work,” the statement further said.

The statement claimed the former student tried to recruit a Ukrainian citizen involved in weapons development, also indicating that “phones with evidence” were seized from the two during searches.

“The defendants face up to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property,” the SBU added.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has accused China of supplying weapons and gunpowder to Russia, and has imposed sanctions against Chinese firms Kyiv believes are aiding Moscow’s war machine, including by providing components for drones.

By Khagan Isayev