Leaked video footage of a lecture given by a Chinese general suggests that Beijing concealed a string of spy cases over the past decade out of embarrassment.

In a video recording of a four-hour speech available on YouTube, Major General Jin Yinan named eight senior Communist party, government and military officials who allegedly sold state secrets to foreign countries, but said some of them had instead been convicted on corruption charges, as a way to minimise embarrassment.

The list includes Kang Rixin, the former head of China’s nuclear power programme, who was sentenced to life in prison late last year for corruption, and Li Bin, China’s former ambassador to South Korea. Officials will only confirm that Mr Li is no longer in the post, but Maj Gen Jin claimed he was in prison.