LIZZIE DEARDEN, STEPHEN CASTLE2025年10月9日克里斯托弗·卡什抵达伦敦威斯敏斯特治安法院，摄于去年。他否认了针对自己的指控。 Hollie Adams/ReutersThe trial of two men accused of spying for China was scheduled to begin this week in London. But prosecutors unexpectedly dropped the case last month.两名被控为中国从事间谍活动的男子原定本周在伦敦受审，但检方于上月出人意料地撤销了此案。Here’s what we know about why the case collapsed — and the uncomfortable question raised by its aftermath: Does Britain see China as an adversary, or as a friendly power with which it can do business?以下是我们了解的案件撤销原委，以及由此引发的棘手问题：英国究竟是将中国视为对手，还是可与之开展业务往来的友好国家？What was the case?案件详情如何？In April 2024, two men — Christopher Cash, then a parliamentary researcher to Alicia Kearns, a senior Conservative lawmaker, and Christopher Berry, a teacher — were accused of gathering and providing information “prejudicial to the safety and interests” of Britain to China between December 2021 and February 2023. Both men denied the charges.2024年4月，时任保守党资深议员艾丽西亚·卡恩斯议会研究员的克里斯托弗·卡什和教师克里斯托弗·贝里二人被控在2021年12月至2023年2月期间收集并向中国提供“损害英国安全和利益”的情报。两人均否认指控。The law under which they were charged, the Official Secrets Act, dates from 1911 and criminalizes information gathering that is “useful to an enemy.”本案援引的是1911年的《官方保密法》，该法将搜集“对敌有用”情报的行为定为刑事犯罪。Why did the case collapse?案件为何撤销？Around the same time the men were charged, a legal dispute was developing in a separate case involving a Bulgarian group accused of spying for Russia. At issue was the word “enemy” in the Official Secrets Act. The Bulgarians’ defense lawyers argued that should apply only to a country that was at war with Britain or likely to be so in the foreseeable future.大约在这两名男子遭指控的同时，另一起涉及保加利亚间谍团伙被控为俄罗斯从事间谍活动的案件引发了法律争议。争议焦点是《官方保密法》中的“敌人”一词。保加利亚被告的辩护律师认为，该词应仅适于同英国处于战争状态或在可预见的未来可能处于战争状态的国家。The Court of Appeal later ruled that an enemy nation could be one that represented “a current threat to the national security of the U.K.”, such as Russia, adding, “Friendly powers would fall outside this definition.”上诉法院后来裁定，敌国可以是对“英国国家安全构成当前威胁”的国家，如俄罗斯，并补充道，“友好国家不在此定义范围内。”This updated legal test presented the prosecutors in the China case with a problem. They would have had to prove that at the time the two men were accused of spying, China was viewed as a threat to Britain’s national security. But in the period from December 2021 to February 2023 the government, then led by the Conservative Party, did not classify China as an adversary. The government instead called China a “systemic competitor” in 2021 and an “epoch-defining and systemic challenge” in 2023.这个更新后的法律标准给中国间谍案的检方带来了一个问题。他们必须证明在这两名男子被控从事间谍活动时，中国被视为对英国国家安全的威胁。但在2021年12月至2023年2月期间，当时由保守党领导的政府并未将中国归为敌人。政府在2021年称中国为“系统性竞争对手”，在2023年称其为“划时代的系统性挑战”。Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions, explained in a letter to lawmakers on Tuesday that prosecutors had spent “many months” trying to secure government statements to meet the updated legal test. While witness statements were provided, “none of these stated that, at the time of the offense, China represented a threat to national security, and by late August 2025 it was realized that this evidence would not be forthcoming,” Mr. Parkinson wrote. “When this became apparent, the case could not proceed.”英国皇家检察署检察总长史蒂芬·帕金森周二在给议员的信中解释说，检方花了“数月”时间，试图获得政府声明，以满足更新后的法律标准。虽然提供了证人陈述，但“这些陈述均未表明，在犯罪发生时，中国对国家安全构成威胁，到2025年8月下旬，我们意识到无法获得这一证据”，帕金森写道。“当这一点明朗化之后，案件无法继续推进。”克里斯托弗·贝里（右）抵达法庭，摄于去年。贝里也否认了针对自己的指控。Whose fault was it that the case collapsed?案件撤销谁之过？Ms. Kearns, the lawmaker for whom Mr. Cash worked as a researcher, has accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government of deliberately undermining the prosecution to “appease Beijing.”议员卡恩斯指控首相斯塔默的政府故意破坏起诉，以此“安抚北京”。卡什曾任卡恩斯的研究员。Mr. Starmer, who was formerly Britain’s chief prosecutor, said the government was “disappointed” that the case had collapsed but told reporters on Tuesday night that the cause was procedural. “You can’t prosecute someone two years later in relation to a designation that wasn’t in place at the time,” he said.曾任英国首席检察官的斯塔默表示，政府对案件撤销感到“失望”，但周二晚间，他告诉记者，原因是程序性的。“你不能在事发两年后依据当时不存在的定性对某人提起诉讼，” 他说。If the government had provided a statement declaring that China was not a friendly nation, that could have been challenged by the defense in court.如果政府提供声明认定中国在当时并非友好国家，辩方可能会在法庭上对此提出质疑。That hasn’t satisfied political critics who argue that the government could have provided some kind of witness statement to help the prosecution move forward, and who claim its failure to do so was a convenient way to protect trade ties with Beijing.这并没有让政治批评者满意，他们认为政府本可以提供某种证人陈述，来帮助检方推进诉讼，并声称政府之所以未能这样做，是一种保护与北京贸易关系的权宜之举。What does this mean for future spy trials?这对未来的间谍审判意味着什么？The issue that collapsed this case is unlikely to present itself again, because the Official Secrets Act has been repealed by new legislation called the National Security Act.导致此案撤销的问题不太可能再次出现，因为《官方保密法》已被新的《国家安全法》取代。That law, which came into effect in 2023, applies to conduct for any “foreign power,” not only for an “enemy” state.《国家安全法》于2023年生效，适用于任何代表“外国势力”，而非仅限代表“敌人”进行的行为。Jonathan Hall, the British government’s adviser on tackling state threats, said that under the new law, espionage prosecutions can be brought “without the U.K. being at war, or at risk of war, and without even having to show that the foreign power is a persistent threat.”英国政府应对国家威胁顾问乔纳森·霍尔表示，根据新法律，可以“在英国没有处于战争状态或面临战争风险的情况下，甚至无需证明外国势力是持续威胁”的情况下提起间谍起诉。Why does this episode matter more broadly?这一事件为何具有更广泛的意义？In 2015, the Conservative-led government promised a “golden decade” of Anglo-Chinese relations — language that no mainstream British politician would use now. But the case encapsulates the central dilemma for Downing Street in dealing with the world’s rising superpower: whether Britain can simultaneously protect its economic interests and its national security.2015年，保守党领导的政府承诺中英关系将迎来“黄金十年”——如今，没有任何英国主流政治人物会使用这样的措辞。但此案集中体现了唐宁街应对这个崛起中的世界超级大国时面临的核心困境：英国能否在维护经济利益的同时保障国家安全。“We will cooperate where we can, compete where we need to and challenge where we must,” the Labour Party wrote in its policy agenda ahead of the 2024 general election, which it won.“我们将在可以合作的地方合作，在需要竞争的地方竞争，在必须挑战的地方挑战，”最终赢得大选的工党在2024年大选前的政策议程中写道。The government subsequently sought to improve a relationship that had soured in recent years, in part because of China’s crackdown in Hong Kong and allegations of Chinese cyberattacks. Last November, Mr. Starmer became the first British prime minister to meet President Xi Jinping in more than six years.随后，政府试图改善近年来不断恶化的双边关系——关系的恶化部分源于中国在香港的镇压以及有关中国实施网络攻击的指控。去年11月，斯塔默成为六年多来首位与习近平主席会面的英国首相。But alarm has grown in the security services, and in his most recent public threat assessment, Ken McCallum, the director general of MI5, Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, named China in a section on “state threats.”但安全部门的担忧在加剧，在最近的公开威胁评估中，英国国内情报机构军情五处负责人肯·麦卡勒姆在“国家威胁”章节明确提及中国。Stephen Castle是时报驻伦敦记者，广泛报道英国新闻、英国政治以及该国与欧洲的关系。翻译：纽约时报中文网点击查看本文英文版。