Chinese embassy criticises ‘anti-China clamours’ after Yang Tengbo spy claim
Share:
Embassy claims some UK politicians have ‘twisted mentality towards China’ and are trying to smear it. The Chinese embassy in London has accused some UK parliamentarians of having a “twisted mentality towards China”, after the identity of a businessman accused of being a spy was revealed on Monday.
A Chinese embassy spokesperson said on Tuesday that “anti-China clamours” were an attempt to “smear China, target against the Chinese community in the UK and undermine normal personnel exchanges between China and the UK”. On Monday, the high court in London lifted an anonymity order that had been in place in the case of a Chinese businessman and confidant of Prince Andrew who is accused of being a Chinese spy.
The man at the heart of the row, Yang Tengbo, had asked for the court to lift the anonymity order so that he could challenge what he describes as “ill-founded” claims against him. Several MPs had been considering using their parliamentary privilege to name Yang before the anonymity order was lifted. Iain Duncan Smith, a former Conservative party leader and strong critic of the Chinese government, said on Monday that the allegations surrounding Yang were “the tip of the iceberg” of Chinese influence in the UK.
Yang was excluded from the UK in 2023 by the then home secretary, Suella Braverman, on the grounds that it was “conducive to the public good”. For the past two decades Yang has divided his life between the UK and China, and in 2013 he had been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK.
