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A top fixer backed by the Chinese Communist Party met senior members of the Royal Family, including the Queen and Prince Charles, the Daily Mail can reveal.
We told yesterday how Zhirong Hu, a director of a Chinese state-controlled group allegedly created to ‘groom’ foreign elites, had been photographed with five UK prime ministers.
Today newly-uncovered images show how Mr Hu, who has links to a Conservative peer, has gained astonishing access to royalty.
Zhirong Hu (pictured left), a top fixer backed by the Chinese Communist Party tasked with wooing the British elite, has now been spotted with members of the Royal Family, including the Queen (right) – who he met at Ascot in June last year
Mr Hu, the director of a state-controlled group in China, also received a certificate from Prince Charles just one month after meeting the Queen at Ascot
He met the Queen at Ascot, was presented with an award by Prince Charles, and stood for photos alongside Princes William and Harry.
The businessman, 48, even welcomed the Queen’s grandson Peter Phillips and a delegation to Beijing, where he claimed ‘Prince Peter’ had ‘expressed his willingness to strengthen exchanges between the Chinese and English’.
The revelations come after weeks of accusations that China has been targeting foreign elites, including the UK Establishment, to promote the Communist Party’s agenda abroad.
Mr Hu sits in China’s upper parliamentary house and is a director of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC).
Academics have described the group as a Communist Party-controlled branch of the United Front Work Department, ‘revitalised under [Chinese President] Xi Jinping…as China seeks to groom local business, political and media leaders in countries around the world’.
Mr Hu was pictured shaking hands with the Queen at Royal Ascot in June last year, where he claimed to have spent time in the Royal Box.
The following month he was pictured receiving a certificate from Prince Charles. He met William and Harry at a garden party around the same time.
Mr Hu (pictured second left), sits in China’s upper parliamentary house and is a director of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries also met Prince William (second right) at a garden party
Mr Hu (pictured right) also met Peter Phillips (left), believed to be the ‘Queen’s favourite grandson’, in August 2017
In 2017, Mr Hu welcomed Mr Phillips – said to be the Queen’s favourite grandson – to China where they toured a porcelain museum and posed for photos under an enormous red banner welcoming ‘Peter Phillips and the delegations’.
Mr Phillips last night said he had gone to China at the invitation of an acquaintance for a powerboat race and met Mr Hu during an ‘informal lunch’ organised by his host.
He added: ‘I don’t vet the guests who are invited to these things. People are introduced and you say hello.
‘Every time you go to China they present you with something. That’s part of the culture. You go to these things and you are polite.’
Mr Hu’s breathtaking access to members of British society has shone a spotlight on his ‘friend’ Xuelin Bates, the Chinese-born wife of Conservative peer Lord Bates, who has long been a keen advocate of China.
Last year, the trio met at the Beijing headquarters of the CPAFFC with Li Xiaolin, who until April was the president of the group and has been described as a ‘very influential CCP [Chinese Communist Party] operative’.
This is despite a source close to Lady Bates – a Tory Party donor – claiming that she was unaware Mr Hu was a director of the group.
Last year Lady Bates and Mr Hu were pictured together meeting Boris Johnson and former Prime Minister David Cameron.
Photographs uncovered by the Daily Mail on Sunday show how Zhirong Hu (pictured left) has moved among the British Establishment, including current Prime Minister Boris Johnson (right)
Zhirong Hu has met five British Prime Ministers including previous Prime Minister Theresa May (both pictured left) and Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown (pictured right together)
Lord and Lady Bates met Mr Hu while visiting China on a walk, sponsored by the CPAFFC, to raise money for charity.
In a diary entry logging the meeting, Lord Bates said: ‘Together we wanted to help the people of the UK to understand the real China through the lens of its culture and also to communicate the real UK to people in China through the friendship walk.
‘We recognise that there are suspicions about motives of respective countries – be they recent in disagreements in the short term over Hong Kong and Huawei or long term over the Opium Wars and the destruction of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing – but there is far more that we shared in common and we should look to the future.’
Mr Hu was also pictured with Tony Blair in China in 2008 – a year after Tony Blair stepped down as Prime Minister
The businessman (left)’s close connections with leading members of British society has shone a spotlight on his ‘friend’ Xuelin Bates (second left), the Chinese-born wife of Conservative peer Lord Bates (far right)
Hidden Hand, a book being serialised in the Mail about China’s growing influence on the West, describes Lady Bates, 56, as ‘a prominent influencer on China matters’.
It claims she has succeeded in positioning herself close to Britain’s top elites, where she can spread a ‘Chinese perspective’.
Commenting on the Mail’s royal revelations, the book’s author Clive Hamilton said: ‘Royal photos are very important in Chinese political culture.
‘They send a very strong signal that the Chinese person in question is rubbing shoulders with the most prestigious people in foreign countries and they, in turn, must be very important.
Most Chinese political operatives have a very exaggerated perception of the importance of the Royal Family.
‘But they do understand certain members of the Royal Family have enormous “soft” power, and if you are hobnobbing with Prince Charles then that will be an entry to all sorts of other circles.’
Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said questions had to be asked of the security services.
Mr Hu (pictured right alongside another former British Prime Minsiter David Cameron, middle) is variously described as a ‘director’ and ‘national director’ of the CPAFFC, which is linked to the Communist Party’s ‘United Front’
Mr Hu, who sits in China’s upper parliamentary house, has also been pictured giving a thumbs-up while posing shoulder to shoulder with Donald Trump in 2018
He stressed: ‘You have to question why they weren’t quicker to advise members of the Royal Family that individuals like this were following a Chinese government plan to infiltrate the circle of influential people, including the Royal Family.
‘Now we are beginning to open the door to a murky game that the Chinese Communist Party government is playing to ensure that countries like the UK become completely dependent on China, thus making it unlikely that future British governments will be prepared to complain about the appalling behaviour of their government.’
A source said last night: ‘The Queen meets many people at Royal Ascot, and any photo should not be taken as a sign of friendship or depth of acquaintance.’
A source close to Prince William said he meets a huge number of individuals at events and met Mr Hu in passing last year.
A spokesman for Mr Phillips added: ‘Peter Phillips has no knowledge of Mr Hu’s activities or of his links to CPAFFC as you have stated.’
Meanwhile, representatives for Prince Charles and Harry did not respond to requests for comment – neither did Lord and Lady Bates and Mr Hu.
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