SuppliedYang Tengbo has been identified as the 50-year-old Chinese business and alleged detective who has been barred from the UK.
UK authorities have alleged he formed an “unusual degree of trust” with Prince Andrew and developed relationships with politicians to be “leveraged” by China.
Following a lengthy legal battle, a Unique Immigration Appeals Tribunal upheld a Home Office’s order to expel him from the UK on national security grounds last year.
On Monday, a court order that made it possible for him to just get identified as H6 was lifted.
Mr. Yang has disputed any immoral behavior and said that the claim that he is a hacker is “entirely misleading.”
What do we hear about Mr Yang’s life and work?
Yang Tengbo, also known as Chris Yang, was born in China in 1974. He first came to the UK in 2002 and studied in London for a year, before taking a masters degree in public administration and public policy at the University of York.
One of the five businesses he has been listed as a producer of in the UK, Hampton Group International, was founded in 2005 by him.
He received an indefinite leave of absence from the UK on May 21, 2013. Prior to the crisis, he claimed to have spent on average up to two weeks in the UK each quarter.
He described the UK as his” next apartment” and said he “would never do anything damage” it after his secrecy was removed on Monday.
What steps have the government of the British taken?
For reasons that haven’t been disclosed, Mr. Yang was stopped at the British borders on November 6th, 2021. He gave up his phone and additional online tools.
He initially won and subsequently lost on charm when he brought a legal claim to stop the British government from keeping his information.
The United Front Work Department ( UFWD), the secretive arm of the Chinese government responsible for organizing Beijing’s cultural influence operations, was then informed by UK authorities that he was connected to it.
Researchers claim that the UFWD frequently works to try and co-opt genuine Chinese business and community organizations in foreign countries. It has been linked to a number of reported cases of reported Taiwanese state interference in Western nations.
A year later in February 2023, Mr Yang was “off-boarded” from a flight to London as he was returning from Beijing. He was told the UK was in the process of making a decision to bar him from the country.
Mr. Yang’s attorneys requested that the state make the allegations against him public and that he have an opportunity to make his case.
The withdrawal of Mr. Yang’s residency rights was mandated by subsequently Home Secretary Suella Braverman on March 15, 2023. She forbade him from entering the United Kingdom because it would be” conductive to the public good.”
On March 23, 2023, Mr. Yang received a notification and filed a lawful issue.
What was the proof against Mr. Yang?
Some of the evidence which informed the Home Office’s decision to ban Mr Yang was included in a court ruling upholding the decision published last week.
Government cited documents that UK authorities claimed indicated a connection between Mr. Yang’s devices and those of other Beijing-linked organizations that were discovered on his when he was stopped in 2021.
According to UK government, these demonstrated that he was “frequently connected to authorities connected with the Chinese state.” They also said he had” often deliberately covered” his connections to the Chinese government, the Chinese Communist Party and the UFWD, and alleged there was a “deceptive factor” to his accounts.
The Home Office claimed that those in his position may be expected to understand UFWD and CCP targets and “proactively participate in them without being tasked” despite Mr Yang saying he hadn’t received direct commands to tamper with UK pursuits.
They also pointed to Mr Yang’s membership of the London-based 48 Group Club, which promotes trade between the UK and China. According to security officials, Beijing might use Mr. Yang’s honorary membership to influence its decisions.
The 48 Group Club responded to the US-funded Radio Free Asia by claiming that Mr. Yang had never been actively involved in the organization’s operations.
While the tribunal ruled there was not an “abundance” of evidence against Mr Yang in some instances, and said there may be an “innocent explanation” in others, it ultimately decided there was” sufficient” material to justify MI5’s conclusion that he posed a security risk.
Mr. Yang stated that he will challenge the decision.
What is Mr Yang’s link to Prince Andrew?
A letter from Dominic Hampshire, a senior adviser to Prince Andrew, in which the UK authorities found a letter from Mr. Yang stating that he could represent the prince in meetings with potential investors in China, was discovered by UK authorities.
Mr Hampshire also told Mr Yang in a letter:” Outside of]the prince’s ] closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on”.
It’s not clear if Mr. Hampshire’s assertion was accurate, and he has not spoken in public since being given that title in the decision.
However, the Home Office found that this to be proof that Mr. Yang was able to “generate relationships between prominent UK figures and senior Chinese officials,” which Beijing” could be using for political interference purposes.”
A document containing the prince’s “main talking points” for a call with Prince Andrew was also discovered, stating that the prince was “in a desperate situation and will grab onto anything.”
Prince Andrew said he “ceased all contact” with Mr Yang after receiving advice from the government, but did not specify when communication stopped. His office said they met” through official channels” and there was “nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed”.
SuppliedWhat has Mr Yang said?
Mr. Yang has vehemently refuted the accusations made against him. He claimed in his first submission to the tribunal that he had no connections to anyone in Chinese politics and that he had never worked for the UFWD on its behalf. He also claimed that he had never been a member of the Chinese Communist Party.
In further submissions, he also said he only had limited links to the Chinese State and that” contact with the UFWD is unavoidable”.
Mr. Yang claimed that the UK’s position on China has changed as a result of a new political climate.
” 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”, Mr Yang said.
A representative from the Beijing foreign ministry said on Monday that “it is not worthwhile to refute this kind of unjust hype,” adding to a statement from last week that claimed” some people in the UK are always eager to fabricate baseless’spy’ stories targeting China.”
With reporting by BBC Verify