British PM Starmer ‘concerned’ about China challenge amid spy row

OSLO - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Dec 16 that he was “concerned about the challenge that China poses” following revelations that a suspected Chinese spy had become a confidant of disgraced royal Prince Andrew.

“Of course we are concerned about the challenge that China poses,” Mr Starmer said during a press conference with his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Store in Bergen, but defended his approach of “engagement” with Beijing.

“Our approach is one of engagement, of cooperating where we need to cooperate, particularly, for example, on issues like climate change, to challenge where we must and where we should,” he added.

Last week, details emerged about

Prince Andrew’s relationship with the businessman and alleged spy

, identified as H6, including the latter being invited to the Prince’s birthday party.

Mr Starmer in November became the first British prime minister since 2018 to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, one of Britain’s most prominent China sceptics, criticised Mr Starmer over the strategy. He told BBC Radio on Dec 16 that the government had shown “a massive amount of weakness to China, and they’re way away from where Europe and the United States are”.

Mr Duncan Smith highlighted the delay in reviving a foreign influence registration scheme, which had been shelved until 2025, and not putting China on the enhanced category for threats.

The former Tory leader denied the government’s claims that it inherited an underprepared scheme, saying: “The reality is it’s an excuse not to upset China.”

The MP also said the suspected spy linked to Prince Andrew was only the “tip of the iceberg” of Beijing’s espionage activities in Britain.

Party invite

Judges on Dec 12 upheld a ban on H6’s entry to the country, saying the government had been “entitled to conclude that his exclusion was justified and proportionate”.

In the ruling, judges assessed H6 was in a position to “generate relationships between senior Chinese officials and prominent UK figures which could be leveraged for political interference purposes by the Chinese state”.

Mr Duncan Smith told BBC Radio: “The fact is, there are many more like him in the UK.”

Mr Duncan Smith is seeking an urgent question in Parliament on Dec 16 about the issue, with reports saying that other MPs may name the suspected spy using parliamentary privilege, which allows legal immunity to lawmakers for statements made in the chamber of the House of Commons.

The Sunday Times reported that H6 had also met former Conservative prime ministers David Cameron and Theresa May.

The tribunal heard that Prince Andrew’s aide Dominic Hampshire told the suspected spy that he could help in potential dealings with Chinese investors.

“Outside of his (Andrew’s) closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on,” Mr Hampshire told H6 in a 2020 letter.

Former interior minister Suella Braverman banned H6 from entering the country in 2023 after her ministry found he had engaged in “covert and deceptive activity” on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Prince Andrew’s reputation was already in tatters over his ties to convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein, which has seen him forced to step back from frontline royal duties and be stripped of his honorary military titles.

A statement from Prince Andrew’s office last week said he had “followed advice” from the government and “ceased all contact with the individual after concerns were raised”.

“The duke met the individual through official channels, with nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed,” it added.

UK newspapers reported on Dec 16 that Buckingham Palace had told Prince Andrew to withdraw from public view over Christmas. AFP