Alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo, who forged links with the Duke of York and mixed with other British establishment figures, insisted he has “done nothing wrong or unlawful”.
Mr Yang said it was “entirely untrue” to claim he was involved in espionage and said he was a victim of a “political climate” which had seen a rise in tensions between the UK and China.
Businessman Mr Yang became a “close” confidant of the Duke of York and has also been pictured with senior politicians including Lord David Cameron and Baroness Theresa May.
“I have done nothing wrong or unlawful and the concerns raised by the Home Office against me are ill-founded. The widespread description of me as a ‘spy’ is entirely untrue.”
Mr Yang last week lost an appeal over a decision to bar him from entering the UK on national security grounds.
Mr Yang was known in the legal case only as H6 until the anonymity order was lifted on Monday.
The 50-year-old worked as a junior civil servant in China before heading to the UK in 2002 to study and he was granted indefinite leave to remain in 2013.
Mr Yang – also known as Christopher Yang – was the founder-partner of Pitch@Palace China.
The Pitch@Palace initiative was the Duke of York’s scheme to support entrepreneurs.
Andrew will stay away from the royal family’s traditional Christmas gathering at Sandringham this year amid the controversy surrounding his links to Mr Yang.
He will miss what was expected to be one of the largest festive events at his brother the King’s private Norfolk estate, where 45 members of their family had been expected to spend Christmas Day.
Mr Yang was first excluded from Britain by then-home secretary Suella Braverman in 2023, when the Home Office said he was believed to have carried out “covert and deceptive activity” for the Chinese Communist Party.
“The political climate has changed and unfortunately, I have fallen victim to this,” Mr Yang said.
“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,” he said.
Judges at a specialist tribunal in London last week ruled Mrs Braverman had been “entitled to conclude” that he “represented a risk to the national security” after he launched an appeal against the decision.
The businessman had brought a case to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) after his initial exclusion in 2023 but his appeal was dismissed.
In his statement, Mr Yang hit out at the process which led to his ban from entering the UK.
“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.”
Downing Street rejected Mr Yang’s criticism of the process he had faced, insisting Sir Keir Starmer had confidence in SIAC and the independence of the courts.
Relations between the UK and China have improved since Sir Keir took office and in November he became the first prime minister to meet Xi Jinping since 2018.
But the Prime Minister acknowledged he was “concerned about the challenge that China poses”.
He defended his strategy for dealing with China: “Our approach is one of engagement, of co-operating where we need to co-operate, particularly on issues like climate change, to challenge where we must and where we should, particularly on issues like human rights, and to compete when it comes to trade.
“That’s the strategic approach that we have set out as a UK Government.”
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “Where individuals pose a threat, as you would expect, the UK Government is absolutely committed to using the full range of powers available to disrupt them. I raised these issues when I was in Beijing a few weeks ago.
“This case does not exist, sadly, in a vacuum. 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.”
Questions were raised about the Government’s approach to China during an urgent question in the House of Commons which also highlighted the case of Mr Yang.
Conservative former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: “Can I just say that Yang Tengbo, H6, was in fact not a lone wolf.
“He was one of some 40,000 members of the United Work Department which the Intelligence and Security Committee report last year said, and I quote – and known to Government – ‘Had penetrated every sector of the UK economy, spying, stealing intellectual property, influencing and shaping our institutions’.”
