Japan's embassy refused to give any comment after British media reports alleged that the country hired British think tank Henry Jackson Society (HJS) to spread anti-propaganda news about China.

The embassy neither denied nor confirmed when asked about the reports but told China Daily that "the embassy of Japan is not in a position to comment on the article since it is about the activities by a British private entity which do not concern the embassy."

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News surfaced after a Jan. 29 issue of The Sunday Times claimed that the Japanese Embassy in London is planning to wage a propaganda campaign against the mainland. It suggested that Japan is paying HJS as much as $12,500 a month to push British politicians including the former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifking and the media to oppose China's foreign policy.

ECNS reported that HJS, which is run by former Tory candidate Alan Mendoza, received payment to carry out the anti-propaganda campaign. The agreement was reportedly made because of the increasing cooperation between Britain and China.

Rifkind also confirmed that HJS came to him last August and asked to put his name to a Daily Telegraph article entitled "How China could switch off Britain's lights in a crisis if we let the build Hinkley C."

The piece pointed some possible risk of the station having cyber-backdoors that could pose a great risk to the UK national security. Rifkind, however, said that he was not aware of the HJS funding and he should have been informed if such exists.

The HJS, on the other hand, said that "the Henry Jackson Society had approached Sir Malcolm Rifkind who generously agreed to work with us in the drafting of this article which appeared under his name. He proposed a number of amendments to the initial draft which we had prepared to ensure that he was in agreement with its contents.

TagsJapan, china, British Think Tank, Henry Jackson Society, Malcolm Rifking