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In a world of identikit bureaucrats, Cai Qi, the man described as Xi Jinping’s top lieutenant and recently revealed as the suspected ringleader of an alleged Westminster Chinese spy ring, stands out.
As the fifth-ranking member on the standing committee of the Chinese Communist party’s (CCP) ruling politburo, Cai is one of the most powerful people in China. But his importance outstrips even his senior title, because as the Chinese leader’s de facto chief of staff, he is also effectively the gatekeeper and right-hand man to Xi himself.
Unlike other top CCP officials, Cai shuns the black hair dye. He is said to speak with a heavy Fujian accent, rather than the standardised Mandarin that Beijing promotes across the country. His rapid ascent through the CCP ranks has made it clear to observers of Chinese politics that he is deeply trusted by Xi.
On Wednesday, in a bid to fight back criticism that Downing Street had sabotaged the trial of two men accused of spying for China, the government released in full the witness statement written by a deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
The statement confirmed previous reporting by the Guardian that Cai was suspected to be in receipt of intelligence about British politics that came from Christopher Cash, a parliamentary researcher, through Christopher Berry, a teacher who lived in China.
Cash and Berry were to stand trial this month but the case was suddenly dropped by the CPS on 15 September, a move that has sparked enormous controversy. Cash and Berry have always maintained their innocence.
In 2022, at the time of the alleged spying, Cai was the Communist party secretary for Beijing, the highest ranking post that a CCP official can hold in China’s capital. Cai was promoted to that role in 2017 after serving just a few months as the mayor of Beijing, a transition that normally takes at least five years.
His rapid ascent has been attributed to his close personal relationship with Xi. The men have worked together for more than two decades, both serving in the coastal provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang earlier in their careers. Cai also serves in the National Security Commission, a secretive body established and led by Xi.
Cai’s role in Xi’s inner sanctum is all the more surprising considering he was once known for his outspoken views and support of more transparent governance. Previously an avid poster on Chinese social media, he once reportedly complained about Facebook being blocked in China.
Cai is someone who is “very calculating, obviously very strategic [and] a high-level operator,” said Kerry Brown, the director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College London, who was due to be a defence expert at the now-abandoned trial.
Collins’ statement reveals that Cai was suspected of meeting Berry in July 2022. Berry is alleged to have told Cash about the meeting, to which Cash replied: “You’re in spy territory now.”
Berry denies that he ever met Cai. In a brief statement this week, Berry said: “My reports were provided to a Chinese company, which I believed had clients wishing to develop trading links with the UK. Those reports contained no classified information.
“I do not accept that, in so doing, I was providing information to the Chinese intelligence services, nor is it tenable that the provision of such material could, in any sense, be considered for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state.”
The Guardian understands that Berry believed at the time that he had met Cai, but has since concluded that the meeting in question did not involve a senior CCP official.
In a statement this week, Cash said that the allegations in Collins’ statement had been taken out of context and that it was “inconceivable to me that [Berry] would deliberately pass on any information to Chinese intelligence”.
“I have been placed in an impossible position. I have not had the daylight of a public trial to show my innocence, and I should not have to take part in a trial by media,” Cash said.
Several China experts expressed scepticism that someone of Cai’s rank could have met someone as junior as Berry. It is very rare for members of the Politburo standing committee to have meetings with foreigners.
Around the time of the alleged meeting in Hangzhou in July 2022, Cai attended several public meetings in Beijing, approximately a two-hour flight away.
Someone who Cai is confirmed to have met is Prince Andrew, who has already been the subject of China-related controversy owing to his relationship with Yang Tengbo, a businessman accused of being a Chinese spy.
In a statement at the time, Yang insisted he was not a spy and had done “nothing wrong or unlawful”. Cai and Andrew met several times in 2018 and 2019 in the UK and China.
