A Chinese national with close ties to Prince Andrew has denied any wrongdoing and rejected claims that he is a spy after being named in court as a suspected Chinese agent by British authorities. Yang Tengbo, identified in a recent ruling by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) as a “close confidant” of Andrew, waived his right to anonymity on Monday to address the allegations.
“I have done nothing wrong or unlawful, and the concerns raised by the Home Office against me are ill-founded,” said Tengbo in the statement, that his lawyer released. He also mentioned that a very common description of him – “spy”- is “entirely untrue.”
In a letter from July 2023, cited in the SIAC ruling, the UK’s Home Office informed Yang that they had reason to believe he was “engaging, or had previously engaged, in covert and deceptive activities on behalf of the United Front Work Department (UFWD), a branch of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) state apparatus.” The ruling indicated that evidence from Yang’s phone showed Prince Andrew had authorized him to establish an international financial initiative aimed at engaging potential partners and investors in China. However, the ruling did not clarify the specific purpose of the fund.
British intelligence agency MI5 has been investigating the money Andrew has been receiving from China, while The Times has stated that Prince Andrew has previously invited Yang Tengbo to several monarchic belongings, such as Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace, and Windsor Castle.
Yang, who lived between the UK and China for nearly 20 years, ran the Duke of York’s PitchatPalace in China. Court documents show he was also authorized to act on Prince Andrew’s behalf in business dealings in China. He has been pictured with two former Conservative prime ministers, Theresa May and David Cameron, and is known to have met other politicians, including former deputy prime minister John Prescott.
Security Minister Dan Jarvis has said that a planned overhaul of security laws, which would require individuals working for foreign governments to disclose this or face criminal charges, won’t be ready until the summer of 2025. His Conservative predecessor, Tom Tugendhat, added that MI5 had warned the government the new law would be ineffective unless China was identified as the top security threat.
On Monday, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry stated that China had always been transparent and never engaged in deception or interference. The spokesperson dismissed the accusations as “groundless speculation” not worth addressing.
In an early Tuesday statement, the Chinese embassy in London urged the UK to “immediately cease creating trouble, stop anti-China political manipulation, and refrain from undermining normal personnel exchanges between China and the UK.”
