'Ruthless' Chinese spies 'penetrate charity set up by Prince Philip' to buy influence

dailystar.co.uk:

Chinese intelligence officers are said to have infiltrated FaithInvest, a charity set up by the late Prince Philip, to buy influence and conduct operations.The infiltrators teamed up with the charity to meet The Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle.

The Duke also met with the charity's co-founder, Martin Palmer, at Buckingham Palace.UK intelligence has now exposed a Chinese spy ring that tried to infiltrate Parliament, with MI5 accusing Communist agents working for a Beijing department of espionage when they visited the Palace in 2017.

Chinese agents also met with the Prince on several occasions through another charity, the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), which was also set up by Palmer, The Sun reports.

Agents, operating through the China Taoist Association, joined up with FaithInvest and last sent a delegation to the Palace in 2017.There was no suggestion that Mr Palmer or Prince Philip knew that the group had been compromised, with The Duke posing for a photo with the infiltrators, who are reportedly controlled by Beijing's United Front Work Department.A source said: "The United Front Work Department is used to present a more acceptable face to a fairly unpleasant regime."But they are also involved in ruthless intelligence and foreign interference activities as well."Christine Lee, who was outed by MI5 for trying to buy influence in Parliament, is among the network of spies said to be feeding information back to China.It was also heard that Tory baroness Lady Bates had attended a conference hosted by the group.Allegations were also put to Mr Palmer, who said: "I have worked with Taoist, Buddhist and Christian groups in China on environmental issues since the early 1990s through ARC."Since the eighth.