By James Pheby and Joe Jackson
The UK government Monday voiced growing concerns over allegations of espionage by China, as a Chinese businessman with links to disgraced Prince Andrew denied being a spy.
Amid the fallout from a fresh scandal, UK media reported that Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson would not join his brother King Charles III and the royal family at Sandringham for Christmas this year.
Last week details emerged about Andrew’s relationship with Yang Tengbo, a businessman and alleged spy, who had been banned from the UK.
The growing furore around the case prompted an urgent question in the UK parliament, and drew comments from Prime Minister Keir Starmer on a visit to Norway.
“Of course we are concerned about the challenge that China poses,” Starmer said during a press conference with his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Store in Bergen, but he defended his approach of “engagement” with Beijing.
“Our approach is one of engagement, of cooperating where we need to cooperate, particularly, for example, on issues like climate change, to challenge where we must and where we should,” he added.
In a statement Monday, Yang Tengbo, who was reportedly once invited to Andrew’s birthday party, insisted he had “done nothing wrong or unlawful”. He called the claims “ill-founded” and said he had “fallen victim” to a changing “political climate”.
“The widespread description of me as a ‘spy’ is entirely untrue,” Yang added, noting he had opted to waive his anonymity and was appealing against the UK decision.
‘Proportionate’
Judges on Thursday upheld a ban on Yang entering Britain, saying the government had been “entitled to conclude that his exclusion was justified and proportionate”.
In the ruling which had referred to Yang only as H6, judges assessed 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”.
The Sunday Times reported that Yang had also met former Conservative prime ministers David Cameron and Theresa May.
“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,” Yang said in his statement.
The scandal has emerged as Starmer, who took power in July, is bidding to reset ties with Beijing.
Last month, he became the first UK prime minister since 2018 to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.
‘Tip of the iceberg’
The opposition Conservatives, including its former leader Iain Duncan Smith — one of the UK’s most prominent China-sceptic voices — have criticised him over the strategy.
Duncan Smith claimed Monday that Yang’s case was only the “tip of the iceberg” of Beijing’s espionage activities in the UK.
However, Foreign Secretary David Lammy insisted the government was alive to individuals who “pose a threat”.
“We recognise the threat, we’ve raised it with the Chinese government, and we will act wherever we need to,” he said at a press conference in London.
“This case does not exist, sadly, in a vacuum,” Lammy added.
“The UK is in the most complex threat environment that we’ve seen for a very significant time, including terrorism and states — including China, Iran and Russia – that pose a threat to us,” he added.
Prince Andrew’s reputation was already in tatters over his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which saw him forced to step back from frontline royal duties and stripped of his honorary military titles.
A statement from Andrew’s office last week said he had “followed advice” from the government and “ceased all contact with the individual after concerns were raised”.
“The duke met the individual through official channels, with nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed,” it added.
Asked about the reports that Andrew and his former wife would not attend the traditional Christmas gathering at Sandringham, Buckingham Palace said: “We do not speak for The Duke of York”.
Last year, Sarah was included in the royal Christmas celebrations for the first time since she and Andrew separated in the 1990s.
