Who is Yang Tengbo? 'Chinese spy' and Prince Andrew friend who can now be named
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An alleged Chinese spy who was banned from the UK and was an associate of Prince Andrew has been named following a High Court judge’s ruling. The previously anonymous individual, now known to be Yang Tengbo, is the latest person whose association with the Duke of York has caused embarrassment to the royal family.
Not for the first time, the Duke has been made a pariah within his own family and, according to reports, will not be welcome at the royal family’s Christmas lunch or church service walkabout. This is what we know about the issue. The royal duke has had close ties with a businessman, who was given the code name H6.
It was said that the two met through “official channels” and that nothing sensitive was ever discussed. Yang Tengbo came to prominence in March 2023 when Suella Braverman said he should be excluded from the UK as part of a government-identified problem of Chinese infiltration in Britain.
Mr Yang then brought a case to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission in July 2023, where judges were told that he had been in a position to generate relationships between prominent UK figures and senior Chinese officials “that could be leveraged for political interference purposes”.
They also said that H6 had downplayed his relationship with the Chinese state which, combined with his relationship with Andrew, represented a threat to national security. The Chinese national had been due to be named after an anonymity order made in May 2023 was lifted by judges at the specialist tribunal.
