China: Both sides of the story (E420)

In Cold War times, British members of Parliament could allegedly be suborned for a bottle of good vodka, a fur coat for the wife and caviar for Christmas. The Tory ones were a bit more expensive, often necessitating a honey trap of one kind or another. It made a few eyes water, therefore, to read about the sums an alleged Chinese intelligence operative paid to Labour parliamentarian Barry Gardiner. So, what are we to make of this latest spy affair? We invited former member of Parliament and veteran spy writer Rupert Allason to help us unravel the story.

And what of the other side to this story? With the enormous ruckus here in Britain over an alleged spy embedded at the heart of the British establishment, what of the news coverage in China? Einar Tangen is a veteran writer, political analyst and commentator who now lives and works in Beijing. So, he boarded Sputnik to tell us how this story unfolded in China as the country prepares to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.

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Podcast https://soundcloud.com/rttv/sets/sputnik-orbiting-the-world-1