The Ministry of Defence’s internal guide to preventing leaks has been released on the internet. The 560,000-word Defence Manual of Security — marked “Restricted” — was put on the Wikileaks website, which campaigns for freedom of information. The MoD said that the leak did not pose “significant security concerns” because the manual dated from 2001.

The guide also describes methods of countering the threat from “subversive or terrorist organisations” and investigative journalists.

It gives fascinating insights into the perceived threats from the intelligence services of countries including China and Russia. It describes Chinese agents as being “expert flatterers and are well aware of the softening effect of food and alcohol”.

It goes on: “Chinese intelligence activity is very different to the portrayal of ‘Moscow Rules’ in the novels of John Le Carre.

“The Chinese make no distinction between information and intelligence. Their appetite for information, particularly in the scientific and technical field, is vast and indiscriminate.

“They do not run agents, they make friends. Although there are Chinese intelligence officers, both civilian and military, these fade into insignificance behind the mass of ordinary students, businessmen and locally employed staff who are working (at least part-time) on the orders of various parts of the State intelligence-gathering apparatus,” the manual warns.

The special guidance to businessmen travelling to Beijing makes it clear that the aim is not to discourage the development of trade with Chinese companies but to warn against the risks of espionage.

“The Chinese intelligence services are known to employ telephone and electronic bugs in hotels and restaurants. They have also been known to search hotel rooms and to use surveillance techniques against visitors of particular interest.

“They have been known to use blackmail to persuade visitors to work for them. Sexual involvement should be avoided, as should any activity which can possibly be construed as illegal. This would include dealing in black-market currency or Chinese antiques and artefacts, straying into ‘forbidden’ areas or injudicious use of a camera or video recorder.”

Businessmen visiting Russia are given similar warnings. The manual says: “We know it sounds like a spy movie, but as well as having wide networks of agents and informers, the FSB [Russian security service] makes extensive use of sophisticated technical devices.

“In the main hotels, all telephones can be tapped and in some rooms visual or photographic surveillance can be carried out, if necessary using infra-red cameras to take photographs in the dark.

An MoD spokeswoman said: “The document is marked ‘restricted’ as current MoD policy is to keep our security policies and procedures private, but the publication of an old version of this document does not raise significant security concerns.”

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