Britain is concerned about “the challenge that China poses”, the Prime Minister admitted on Monday, following allegations that a spy had become close to Prince Andrew.
During a press conference, Sir Keir Starmer was questioned about whether he had spoken to the Royal family after reports that a friend of the Duke of York had carried out "covert and deceptive activity" for the Chinese Communist Party.
The PM defended his approach to engaging with Beijing and said: "In relation to any discussions with Buckingham Palace there's a long-standing convention in the United Kingdom that that's never spoken about.
"But of course we are concerned about the challenge that China poses."
He added: "Our approach is one of engagement, of co-operating where we need to co-operate, particularly on issues like climate change, to challenge where we must and where we should, particularly on issues like human rights and to compete when it comes to trade. "That's the strategic approach that we have set out as a UK Government. "
MPs have expressed concern about the level of access allegedly gained by the Chinese businessman, known as H6, who is said to have become a "close" confidant of the Duke of York, with whom he had formed an "unusual degree of trust”, a court heard.
Former security minister Tom Tugendhat told BBC Breakfast: "I'm absolutely certain that there are members of the United Front Work Department who are active right now in attempting to influence journalism, academics, politics, and the whole lot. This is really the tip of the iceberg.
"And so the story I can understand why it's been about Prince Andrew, but it's not really about Prince Andrew. It's about the way the Chinese Communist Party is seeking to exert influence here in the United Kingdom."
He urged the Government to introduce the foreign influence registration scheme and put China on the enhanced tier of it.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said his party is prepared to use parliamentary privilege to name the alleged agent in the chamber unless the courts lift an anonymity order which protects his identity.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said Britain has a "complex" relationship with China which requires economic cooperation with the country while also challenging any risk to national security, when she was questioned about the case on Sunday.
The Chinese businessman was first excluded from Britain by then-home secretary Suella Braverman in 2023, when the Home Office said he was believed to have carried out "covert and deceptive activity" for the Chinese Communist Party.
Judges at a specialist tribunal in London on Thursday ruled Ms Braverman had been "entitled to conclude" that he "represented a risk to the national security" after he launched an appeal against the decision.
Asked what her message to Beijing would be, Ms Cooper told the BBC on Sunday the Government would "continue to take a very strong approach to our national security", including towards any challenge from China.
"Of course, with China we also need to make sure we have that economic interaction, economic co-operation in place as well. So it's a complex arrangement," she added.
The businessman had brought a case to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) after his initial exclusion in 2023 but his appeal was dismissed on Thursday.
At a hearing in July, the tribunal was told that an adviser to Prince Andrew said he could act on the duke's behalf when dealing with potential investors in China, and that H6 had been invited to the duke's birthday party in 2020.
A letter referencing the event from the aide, Dominic Hampshire, was discovered on H6's devices when he was stopped at a port in November 2021.
The letter also said: "You should never underestimate the strength of that relationship... Outside of his closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on."
H6 was later informed that he was believed by UK authorities to be connected to the United Front Work Department - an arm of the Chinese Communist Party tasked with conducting influence campaigns.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith is applying for an urgent question in the Commons on the influence of Beijing's shadowy United Front Work Department, the group said to be associated with the unnamed man.
On Friday, a statement from the duke's office said: "The Duke of York followed advice from His Majesty's 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."
