The late Chairman Mao, China’s former supreme leader, once called the United Front Work Department (UFWD) one of the three “magic weapons” of the Chinese Communist party (CCP). That the other two were the People’s Liberation Army and the party’s propaganda arm signals how central the UFWD has been to the CCP’s efforts for nearly a century. The operation involving Andrew must count as one of its more unusual achievements.
The UFWD’s job began as neutralising potentially hostile actors at home. As China has expanded into the world, it has increasingly taken on the international challenge of befriending, bribing or otherwise seducing figures of influence who can be won over to China’s cause. Such elite figures can become both useful sources of information and agents of influence who can be invited to smooth away any hostility or suspicions that might otherwise get in the way of the CCP’s ambition.
The United Front’s prizes may be unaware of having been targeted: they are what Vladimir Lenin is believed to have called “useful idiots”. But even the boldest UFWD operative could hardly have dreamed of such a prominent and needy member of British high society as Andrew.
In 2014, Andrew leveraged his family position to set up a new venture, Pitch@Palace, through which young entrepreneurs were invited to a royal residence to pitch ideas to potential investors. That same year, he launched Pitch@Palace China.
No doubt it seemed like a good opportunity: at the time, there was talk of a “golden era” in the UK’s relations with China. Why should the prince not also ride a mutually profitable wave of ever-warmer relations? The proposition was well received at the highest levels in China. The then Chinese ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, attended the global final at Spencer House in 2019 and spoke fondly about the UK’s tech startups, a sector China was keenly interested in.
Back in China, as Pitch@Palace was getting going, the leader, Xi Jinping, had turned his attention to the UFWD, consolidating its power and boosting its budget. In 2015, Xi appeared at UFWD’s national conference – a clear endorsement of its authority – and later gave it control of other strands of CCP work.
The UK government acknowledges China as a rival, and a China closely allied with Russia raises security concerns. And while Pitch@Palace China is no longer in operation, the damage to Andrew’s reputation following his relationship with a Chinese businessman alleged to be a spy will be harder to erase.
• Isabel Hilton is a London-based writer and broadcaster who has reported extensively from China and Hong Kong
