Keir Starmer defended the government’s wider tolerance for China, saying it was “important to engage” following revelations about a suspected Chinese spy who had close ties to Prince Andrew.
The Prime Minister, asked for the first time about the matter amid calls from some MPs for a change in approach to China, declined to comment directly on Andrew or the royal family, but called it progress in relations with China. He said he was satisfied with things.
As part of a partial reset of relations with China, Mr Starmer met Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Rio, the first meeting between British and Chinese leaders in six years. Prime Minister Rachel Reeves is scheduled to visit Beijing soon.
“Of course we are concerned about the challenges posed by China,” Starmer said at a brief press conference in Bergen with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gare Store during a visit focused on cooperation on defense and clean energy. spoke.
“I spoke with the (Chinese) president just a few weeks ago. Our approach is to engage, to cooperate where we need to work together, especially on issues like climate change, and especially on issues like human rights. , to disagree where we should and should be, and to compete when it comes to trade.
“This is the strategic approach we have set out as a British government. We will not be commenting on Buckingham Palace or the Royal Family, as by tradition governments never comment.”
Mr Starmer continued: Of course, we must try where we can, but it is better to take on challenges than to sit on the sidelines, so to speak. On issues that require cooperation, such as climate change, it is important to cooperate as much as possible. So I’m very happy with this initiative and our progress. ”
According to court documents, the suspected spy, known publicly only as H6 by a British court order, was so close to the crown prince that he acted on his behalf in international financial initiatives with potential Chinese partners and investors. He was given the authority to act. .
In a judgment this month that upheld the businessman’s removal from the UK, the judge said he had “enjoyed a significant degree of unusual confidence from senior members of the royal family who were prepared to enter the business”. Certified. Activities with him.”
Ministers are under pressure to set a timetable for reinstating the Foreign Influence Register (FIRS), which has been postponed until next year, and place China in the enhanced threat category.
Asked about the progress of the plan, Mr Starmer said only: “The Government has been working on it from day one and we will have an update shortly.”
Conservative MPs, who have strong resistance to relations with China, are almost certain that the incident involving Mr. Andrews was an attempt to use an organization known as the United Front Work Department to forge links with powerful British figures. It warns that this is just one part of the Chinese government’s broader efforts to do so.
Former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith, who is calling for an emergency Commons Inquiry to question ministers on the issue on Monday, said the incident was “an iceberg” of attempts by the Chinese government to infiltrate Britain. “It’s just one corner of the story,” he said.
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“The fact is there are many others like him in the UK,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “There are many others doing the same job as him and the fact that he was trying to leave the UK shows that he was aware at some point that he was going to be caught.
“The reality is that there are many more people involved in exactly the kind of espionage that is going on right now. The reality for us is very simple: China is a very clear threat.”
Another Conservative MP, Tom Tugendhat, a former security minister, told BBC One’s Breakfast: Everything. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
“So I understand why this story is about Prince Andrew, but it’s not really about Prince Andrew. It’s about the way the Chinese Communist Party is trying to exert influence here in the UK.”
There is speculation that if Mr Smith’s question is accepted by Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, other potential Reform UK MPs could name the suspected spy.
