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Bristish authorities banned alleged spy Yang Tengbo from entering the United Kingdom after finding he had an “unusual” relationship with Prince Andrew, revealed in court documents last week. The Chinese businessman, who also had links to high-ranking politicians, says he has done ‘nothing unlawful’.
Almost 20 years after he first arrived in the UK as a student, Yang Tengbo, also known as Chris Yang, was stopped by UK border police. During questioning in November 2021 authorities found documents that showed a close relationship between the Chinese businessman and Prince Andrew, King Charles III’s younger brother.
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“Outside of his closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on,” read a letter to Yang from one of the prince’s senior advisors.
Yang, who told authorities he considered the UK a second home, was reportedly so close to the royal that he was invited to one of Andrew’s birthday parties. Photos have also emerged of the businessman at events meeting former prime ministers David Cameron and Theresa May.
But in February 2023, on one of his regular trips to the UK, Yang was removed from a flight from Beijing to London and told that Britain intended to ban him from the country.
In court last week judges ruled to maintain the ban after finding Yang represented a risk to national security. He was, they said, in a position to “generate relationships between senior Chinese officials and prominent UK figures which could be leveraged for political interference purposes by the Chinese State”.
Yang – who was known only as “H6” until a High Court judge lifted an anonymity order against him on Monday – is listed as a director of Hampton Group International, a group which advises UK-based companies on relations with China, and is also reportedly a member of Pitch@Palace China, an initiative by Prince Andrew to support entrepreneurs.
The accusations against the businessman centre on the Home Office’s belief that he was engaged in “covert and deceptive activity” on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) United Front Work Department (UFWD).
