U.S. prosecutors announced charges on Thursday against a government agent and private investigator in a widening probe of an alleged scheme to stalk and harass Chinese dissidents in the United States.

Craig Miller, a 15-year employee of the Department of Homeland Security, and Derrick Taylor, a former DHS worker, were named in an indictment filed in federal court in Brooklyn. Prosecutors allege the pair obstructed justice by plotting to obtain information from a restricted federal law enforcement database.

Miller, 48, of Hastings, Minnesota, and Taylor, 60, of Irvine, California, are among the latest defendants indicted in a wide-ranging probe of what American officials describe as increasingly aggressive efforts by the Chinese government to seek out, silence and threaten pro-democracy activists abroad.

The defendants are to be arraigned at a later date. It was unclear if they had attorneys who could comment on the allegations.

U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement that his office “will always work closely with our law enforcement partners to root out corrupt officials in all levels of government and will prosecute those who act on behalf of a hostile foreign state to target the free speech of U.S. residents on American soil.”

Miller works as deportation officer at a DHS office in Minnesota. A message was left with the agency on Thursday seeking comment.

According to court papers, a Chinese operative hired Taylor to obtain confidential and sensitive personal information about several Chinese dissidents living in the United States. The information included passport photos, flight records and immigration records, the papers say.

Taylor allegedly recruited two DHS agents, including Miller, to provide him the records from the restricted database. When the FBI confronted the two over the breach, they lied to cover it up, court papers say.

Miller also deleted text messages between him and Taylor from his phone while being interviewed by the FBI, while Taylor instructed a co-conspirator to withhold evidence from the government, the papers add.

“That’s where we stepped in,” said McCallum. He also said one engineering firm had been approached by a Chinese company which led to its technology being taken before the deal was then called off, forcing the company, Smith’s Harlow, to go into administration in 2020.

July 6 (Reuters) – The heads of MI5 and FBI warned of the growing long-term threat posed by China to UK and U.S. interests, in their first joint appearance on Wednesday.

MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said the service has already “more than doubled our previously-constrained effort against Chinese activity of concern,” adding it was running seven times as many investigations as in 2018.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said that the Chinese government “poses the biggest long-term threat” to economic and national security, for the UK, the U.S. and allies in Europe and elsewhere.

“The Chinese government is trying to shape the world by interfering in our politics (and those of our allies, I should add),” Wray said, saying Beijing had directly interfered in a Congressional election in New York this year, as it did not want a candidate who was a critic and former protester at Tiananmen Square to be elected.

Wray warned that the Chinese government “poses an even more serious threat to Western businesses than even many sophisticated businesspeople realize,” and is “set on stealing your technology.”

The Chinese governement’s hacking program is “bigger than that of every other major country combined,” according to Wray.

Over the past year, the UK has shared intelligence with 37 countries to help them defend against cyber espionage, McCallum said, adding that in May they had disrupted a sophisticated threat targeting critical aerospace companies.

Speaking about Taiwan, which China regards as a province, Wray said that China may try to forcibly take it over and if that were to happen, “it would represent one of the most horrific business disruptions the world has ever seen.”

“The widespread Western assumption that growing prosperity within China and increasing connectivity with the West would automatically lead to greater political freedom has, I’m afraid, been shown to be plain wrong,” McCallum said.

“The allegations against China by U.S. and UK intelligence officials are completely groundless and the so-called cases they listed are pure shadow chasing,” a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the UK said, in response to a question about the comments made by McCallum and Wray.

The spokesperson said that China urged both the countries to “have a clear understanding of the trend of the time, abandon the Cold War mentality which has long gone out of date, stop spreading “China threat”, and stop creating confrontation and conflicts.”

Speaking at MI5 headquarters in Thames House, London, both the security services heads gave numerous examples of issues linked to China, asking an audience which included businessmen and academics to be cautious and encouraging them to partner with the FBI and MI5 so they can have the appropriate intelligence about this threat.

Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The head of the FBI and the leader of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency have delivered an unprecedented joint address raising fresh alarm about the Chinese government, warning business leaders that Beijing is determined to steal their technology for competitive gain.

In a speech at MI5’s London headquarters intended as a show of western solidarity, Christopher Wray, the FBI director, stood alongside the MI5 director general, Ken McCallum. Wray reaffirmed longstanding concerns about economic espionage and hacking operations by China as well as the Chinese government’s efforts to stifle dissent abroad.

“We consistently see that it’s the Chinese government that poses the biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security, and by ‘our’, I mean both of our nations, along with our allies in Europe and elsewhere,” Wray said.

He told the audience the Chinese government was “set on stealing your technology, whatever it is that makes your industry tick, and using it to undercut your business and dominate your market”.

Ken McCallum said MI5 was running seven times as many investigations into China as it had been four years ago and planned to “grow as much again” to tackle the widespread attempts at inference which pervade “so many aspects of our national life”.

“Today is the first time the heads of the FBI and MI5 have shared a public platform,” McCallum said. “We’re doing so to send the clearest signal we can on a massive shared challenge: China.”

McCallum said the Chinese government and its “covert pressure across the globe” amounted to “the most game-changing challenge we face.

“This might feel abstract. But it’s real and it’s pressing,” he said. “We need to talk about it. We need to act.”

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, rejected the allegations from the western leaders, saying in an emailed statement to the Associated Press that China “firmly opposes and combats all forms of cyber-attacks” and calling the accusations groundless.

“We will never encourage, support or condone cyber-attacks,” the statement said.

In a nod to current tensions between China and Taiwan, Wray also said during his speech that any forcible takeover of Taipei by Beijing “would represent one of the most horrific business disruptions the world has ever seen”.

Last week, the US government’s director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, said at an event in Washington that there were no indications that Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, was poised to take Taiwan by military force. But she that did say Xi appeared to be “pursuing the potential” for such an action as part of a broader Chinese government goal of reunification with Taiwan.

After the appearance, Wray said he would leave to others the question of whether an invasion of Taiwan was more or less likely after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But, he said, “I don’t have any reason to think their interest in Taiwan has abated in any fashion” and added that he hoped China had learned what happens “when you overplay your hand”, as he said Russia had.

Joe Biden said in May that the US would respond militarily if China invaded Taiwan, offering one of the most forceful White House statements in support of Taiwan’s self-governing in decades. The White House later tried to soften the impact of the statement, saying Biden was not outlining a change in US policy toward Taiwan, a self-governing island that China views as a breakaway province that should be reunified with the mainland.

The embassy spokesman said the Taiwan issue was “purely China’s internal affair” and said when it came to questions of China’s territory and sovereignty, the country has “no room for compromise or concession.”

“We will strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification with utmost sincerity and efforts,” the statement said, though it noted that China would “reserve the option of taking all necessary measures in response to the interference of foreign forces”.

The Associated Press and Press Association contributed reporting

For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT:

4:17 a.m.: The daily intelligence update from the U.K. defense ministry said heavy shelling continued along the Donetsk front line but Russia made few advances.

The update also said Russia is working on economic measures to support its operations in Ukraine without a formal declaration of state mobilization.

3:12 a.m.: Al Jazeera reported that German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that in light of the war with Ukraine, Russia must not be allowed to use this week’s G-20 gathering as a platform.

Both she and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken have said they will not meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who will be attending the gathering, Al Jazeera reported.

Meanwhile, Australia’s foreign minister called the war in Ukraine “immoral.”

2:08 a.m.: Josep Borrell, the European Union high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, asked China to play a more constructive role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

1:11 a.m.: Russian-born Elena Rybakina said she wanted the war in Ukraine to end “as soon as possible” after reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

Now representing Kazakhstan, and the first player from that country to reach the last four of a Grand Slam, Rybakina faces a semi-final with Romanian 2019 champion Simona Halep.

Rybakina, 23, who was born in Moscow and switched allegiance from Russia four years ago, was asked afterwards whether she felt Kazakh or Russian, a sensitive subject at a tournament that this year barred players from Russia and Belarus due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“I was born in Russia but of course I am representing Kazakhstan. It’s already a long journey for me,” she said. “I was playing Olympics, Fed Cup before. I got so much help and support. “For me it’s tough question just to say exactly what I feel.”

Asked about the war in Ukraine, she added: “I just want the war to end as soon as possible. Peace, yeah.”

12:02 a.m. Ukraine is investigating more than 21,000 war crimes and crimes of aggression by Russian troops, the BBC reported.

Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said she was getting reports of 200-300 war crimes a day, the BBC said. She said that Russian soldiers who commit crimes “should understand that it’s only a question of time when they all will be in court.”

Russia has denied all allegations of war crimes.

Some information in this report came from Reuters.