By Patrick Martin, in London, ABC
The suspected Chinese spy who forged a close relationship with Prince Andrew (pictured) has been named as Yang Tengbo. Photo: HOLLIE ADAMS/pool/AFP
The suspected Chinese spy who forged a close relationship with Prince Andrew before being barred from the UK has been named as Yang Tengbo, after a court-enforced anonymity order was lifted.
The 50-year-old, who also goes by Chris Yang, was revealed after a ruling from Justice Chamberlain at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Monday, local time.
The decision came just before MPs were set to convene in the House of Commons, where it was expected he was going to be named under parliamentary privilege.
The businessman was barred from entering the UK in 2023 over what the court found to be "deliberately obscured" links with the Chinese Communist Party.
Last week he appealed that decision, but the court rejected his application, finding he had won an "unusual" degree of trust from Prince Andrew and that he was 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".
Following the court's decision, Yang released a statement through his lawyers saying he requested the court lift the secrecy order "due to the high level of speculation and misreporting".
"The widespread description of me as a 'spy' is entirely untrue," the statement read.
"On their own fact finding, even the three judges in this case concluded that there was 'not an abundance of evidence' against me, their decision was 'finely balanced', and there could be an 'innocent explanation' for my activities. This has not been reported in the media.
"The political climate has changed, and unfortunately, I have fallen victim to this. When relations are good, and Chinese investment is sought, I am welcome in the UK. When relations sour, an anti-China stance is taken, and I am excluded.
"I built my private life in the UK over two decades and love the country as my second home. I would never do anything to harm the interests of the UK."
Documents detail links to Prince Andrew
Despite saying he requested he be named, a now-reportable court decision from last month found that the UK's Special Immigration Appeals Commission informed him that they would name him, despite his concerns.
Documents seized by British authorities from Yang's phone in 2021 showed significant contact between him, Prince Andrew and senior aides to the Duke of York.
The tribunal heard that the prince's aide Dominic Hampshire told the suspected spy that he could help in potential dealings with Chinese investors.
"Outside of his [Andrew's] closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on," Hampshire told Yang in a 2020 letter.
Yang also received an invitation to the prince's birthday party.
Other documents seized showed Prince Andrew had authorised Yang to set up an international financial incentive to engage with potential partners in China. Court documents do not state what the program was intended for.
A statement from the prince's office last week said the Duke of York had followed government advice and "ceased all contact with the individual after concerns were raised".
It also said the prince met Yang through official channels and nothing sensitive was discussed.
Security and intelligence expert at the University of Buckingham, Anthony Glees, said the case was significant.
"I cannot think of an intelligence spy who has ever got as close to the pinnacle of the constitutional power … in the United Kingdom as Tengbo. It's absolutely remarkable," Professor Glees said.
"That will be absolutely devastating for the Duke of York and a body blow to King Charles. Embarrassment doesn't begin to describe it.
"He [King Charles] has tried to do what he can do to put royal blue water in between himself and his brother, but Prince Andrew appears to have behaved in a totally reckless and feckless manner.
"We are in a very serious place right now."
He said the access Yang had to the prince would have opened other doors for him.
"That is the intelligence gate," he said.
"It's clear what Tengbo got - it's not clear what Prince Andrew got."
There is no suggestion that Prince Andrew received anything as part of the relationship with Yang.
The professor said under Chinese law, citizens are required to provide information to authorities if requested.
He said now that Yang had been named, authorities in the UK could do further work.
"It will enable all the people that Tengbo has had contact with to make themselves known to the authorities and allow the authorities to make some kind of an assessment of the damage that may have been done," he said.
China's foreign ministry denied accusations of spying last week.
Yang Tengbo's history in UK and China
Court documents reveal that Yang worked as a junior civil servant in China before moving to the UK as a student in 2002.
He was given leave to remain in the UK in 2013.
While in the UK, he ran a consultancy firm called Hampton Group International, an organisation that focused on developing relationships between the UK and China.
In a letter cited by the court in its initial ruling to bar him from the country, Britain's Home Office told Yang they had reason to believe he was "engaging, or had previously engaged, in covert and deceptive activity on behalf of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) which is an arm of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) state apparatus".
Chinese President Xi Jinping has previously described the UFWD as being a "magic weapon" for bolstering Beijing's reach abroad.
Former Tory Party leader and prominent China-sceptic, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, was granted permission to ask the UK government a question about the UFWD and China's influence in the UK.
In response to questions on national security and the threat from China, Security Minister Dan Jarvis said the case of Yang "does not exist in a vacuum".
Jarvis told the Commons that the threats posed by China, Iran and Russia amounted to the "most complex threat environment we have ever seen".
He added that the government was "absolutely committed" to using all powers available to it to disrupt those seeking to damage the country.
Earlier on Monday, local time, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer followed long-standing convention for the British government to not comment on the royal family.
"Of course, we are concerned, about the challenge that China poses," Sir Keir said, adding that his government's position was to engage with China on issues including climate change and trade.
Prince Andrew was a roving UK trade ambassador from 2001 to 2011. At 64 years old, he is the eighth in line to the throne.
He was forced to step aside from public duties in 2019 over his friendship with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Prince Andrew has always denied any accusations of wrongdoing. In 2022, the royal family removed his military links and royal patronages.
- ABC