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A chinese espionage network, the other major scandal of Prince Andrew of England

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The prince, who this week renounced all his noble titles, is linked to the leader of a group of alleged agents in the service of Beijing

Britain's Prince Andrew.
Britain's Prince Andrew.AP

At 65, Prince Andrew of England faces the closest thing to a dethronement that someone who is not a king can experience. In practice, the only thing that may remain for the younger brother of Charles III is the title of prince. In fact, Andrew could even be excluded from the coronation of his nephew William.

But, according to British media, the events of the past few days are just another phase of Andrew's institutional downfall, which also seems to be on the verge of being completely excluded from all Windsor family events. The latest news suggests that Andrew unsuccessfully tried in 2011 to use the State to defame Virginia Giuffre, the former employee of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago country club, who was recruited to work as a prostitute for Jeffrey Epstein's network and with whom the prince had sexual relations when she was underage. Andrew only escaped the lawsuit filed by Giuffre - who died in April - by paying her a multimillion-dollar settlement, entirely funded by his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and his brother, Charles.

The Epstein and Giuffre scandal has been haunting Andrew for exactly ten years. But it does not seem to be the only reason for his downfall. There is also a espionage case surrounding what was, they say, the favorite son of Queen Elizabeth II. His revelations, like in the case of Epstein, are gradually coming out and do not have the repulsive component of his paid sex life. However, this could be an even more serious incident, because it would affect British foreign and security policy, and even the Prime Minister, the Labour leader Keir Starmer.

Everything revolves around the three meetings that the prince had with Cai Qi, a member of the Chinese Communist Party's Politburo and, in practice, chief of staff to the country's president, Xi Jinping, in 2018 and 2019. For some reason that has never been explained, Cai and Andrew hit it off during a visit by the latter to China in 2018 as part of a British delegation that also included, among others, the then Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and the Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

In 2019, Andrew traveled to China two more times to meet with Cai, and even invited him to visit Buckingham Palace. The meetings were revealed by the conservative newspaper Daily Telegraph on Thursday. A day later, the prince announced his resignation from all his noble titles, although, since these can only be revoked by Parliament, they are officially only "suspended" or "existing but inactive."

The fact that Andrew's decision - actually, an imposition by his brother and nephew - came after the news of his relationship with Cai does not seem coincidental. The Chinese leader seems to be the recipient of the information obtained by two British spies: Westminster Parliament employee Christopher Cash, and English professor in China, Christopher Berry. According to the Prosecutor's Office, Berry, despite being just an English teacher, met with Cai in 2022 and recruited Cash as a spy, informing him in a voicemail that "you are now in spy territory."

In April 2024, both spies were arrested and charged with violating the Official Secrets Act. The trial was set for October 6 and was expected to last about five or six weeks. The two spies faced sentences of 14 years in prison each. Although Cai is not explicitly mentioned in the case file or in the documentation presented by the Prosecutor's Office, the descriptions of the Chinese leader who was supposedly behind the whole scheme only leave him as a suspect. British authorities have also confirmed to the media in that country that, indeed, Cai Qi was pulling the strings of Berry, who in turn was directing Cash. But, three weeks before the trial was set to begin, the Prosecutor's Office unexpectedly dropped the charges citing lack of evidence.

This, in turn, has sparked a political storm, with part of the opposition accusing Starmer of interfering with justice to protect the UK's economic relations with China. Tensions between London and Beijing are high due to Starmer's alignment with the United States on all Pacific security matters, his pact with Australia to jointly develop atomic submarines, and also the controversy surrounding the future Chinese embassy in the United Kingdom. The British government has demanded detailed information from China about the internal structure of the future diplomatic headquarters, and Beijing has refused to provide it, raising fears in London that the building could become a center for espionage. So the UK has refused to authorize the start of construction on the site, which is next to the Tower of London, sparking a strong Chinese reaction.

Amid this spy game, the last thing needed was a member of the royal family, especially when he has already had a friendship with another Chinese citizen, Yang Tengbo, who has been banned from entering the UK since 2023 for his activities as a spy. No accusations of espionage have been made against Andrew, neither in the case of Tengbo nor in that of Cai. But the apparent lack of transparency about his meetings with Xi Jinping's chief of staff has added an extra layer of controversy at the worst time for his public image.