Apparently two 5ft tall weather stations were taken from the apartment and sent away for analysis. And the UK team would like them back, please. Because they are worth around £8,000. And they were taken in March last year.

Mind you, the loss of the monitoring equipment seems not to have deterred the UK squad at the recent Qingdao pre-Olympic regatta, even though the weather in the area is decidedly light and flukey with strong tides and a large swell.

They brought back five gold medals, including Ben Ainslie stepping from an America’s Cup boat back into his Finn dinghy and showing a very clean pair of heels to the other competitors.

‘We have been told by friends and sources in China that the authorities thought our equipment could be used for spying,’ said Stephen Park, the RYA’s Olympic manager. ‘We have informed Foreign Office officials we’d like the equipment back.’

According to The Mail on Sunday, Zhao Shangsen, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy on London, said: ‘I am not in a position to comment on the details of the incident.’