Duke of York sought billions from China with help from alleged spy
New documents raise concerns about Prince Andrew’s links to Yang Tengbo and his willingness to use his royal status despite the security risk.
The Duke of York wanted secret advice from a Chinese minister and had covert meetings with the country’s ambassador as he raised money for his personal interests, court documents have revealed.
Andrew’s relationship with Yang Tengbo, an alleged spy who helped to broker the deals, was ruled a “threat to national security”.
Extraordinary details of the duke’s connections with Yang and his cultivation of Chinese officials were revealed in papers released on Friday. They raise serious concerns about Andrew’s willingness to use his royal status to raise money for his private benefit despite the risk of compromising Britain’s security.
Andrew planned to raise $US3 billion ($4.8bn) of international financing for the Eurasia Fund by using his family’s international reputation, according to a document found on Yang’s telephone. It boasted that the fund would “leverage the role of the royal family” to “play a significant role in supporting China’s efforts to build international partnerships”.
“The foundation will rely on the traditional friendly relationships of the British royal family with certain countries to foster friendships and mutual trust between these parties and Chinese partners,” it added. “The royal family, being above party politics and unaffected by election cycles, can pursue long-term visions and exert stable, enduring influence.”
The fund intended to establish “a ‘golden triangle’ of friendship among the Duke of York, Middle Eastern nations and China” and “break unproductive technological and talent blockades against China”.
Chinese investors were expected to contribute $US2 billion and Andrew had completed discussions with the leaders of Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, who were planning to contribute $US500 million each, it claimed. The document said the fund was aligned with China’s Belt and Road foreign infrastructure operation.
Documents retrieved from Yang’s telephone show Andrew allegedly wanted advice from a senior Chinese minister while preparing to set up an international think tank to promote China’s “rise in the world”. His plans were leaked to Jiang Jianguo, a minister of China’s State Council Information Office, in 2019.
Alistair Michie, secretary-general of the British East Asia Council, which promotes links with China, told the minister that Andrew wanted to organise a conference in China for world leaders. “I know that HRH The Duke of York will value your private thinking. In turn, that will help him formulate his plans and so enable a consensus to be reached,” he wrote.
“When I am in London I can privately and informally get the view of HRH The Duke of York.”
The suggestion is among material that led to a Home Office security assessment to conclude: “Yang’s relationship with Prince Andrew represents a threat to national security.”
The review said that Yang had failed to reveal to Andrew his links with the United Front Work Department, the Chinese Communist Party’s foreign intelligence and propaganda unit. Yang, a former Chinese government official, was able to operate freely for more than two decades in the UK. He befriended Andrew, met at least two prime ministers and cultivated influential contacts at the top of society.
Andrew was forced to step down from royal duties after a BBC Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis in 2019 in which he was asked about Virginia Giuffre’s claims that she was coerced into having sex with him. The timing was potentially disastrous for Andrew’s efforts to secure Chinese funding for Pitch@Palace, his Dragons’ Den-style entrepreneur plan, and investments in his Eurasia Fund.
Dominic Hampshire, the duke’s senior adviser, wrote to Yang on Buckingham Palace notepaper in March 2020, confiding: “We have dealt with the aftermath of a hugely ill-advised and unsuccessful television interview.” He added: “We have wisely navigated our way around former private secretaries and we have found a way to carefully remove those people who we don’t completely trust.”
In February 2023, Yang was barred from returning to the UK on national security grounds. His appeal to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) was rejected last December.
Yang said in a witness statement unsuccessfully challenging the ban: “The Chinese ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, was an early supporter of Pitch and wanted to know what was going on with the duke and Pitch after the Maitlis interview given there was huge negativity in the Chinese media.
“The ambassador said that the best way for him to do his job was to see the duke and then report back to China about whether there was still a commitment to continue Pitch in China.”
Yang said it was arranged for the details of the ambassador’s number plates to be taken so he could drive straight into Royal Lodge, Andrew’s home on the Windsor estate, without the usual security checks.
“It would have been damaging for the ambassador to be seen meeting the duke because the duke’s reputation in China was so bad at the time,” he said.
Hampshire later sent a letter to Yang confirming that Andrew had given the alleged spy “authorisation to represent him in China” to seek investors for the Eurasia Fund. Andrew also appointed Yang to lead the Chinese arm of Pitch@Palace.
Yang said he became involved after meeting Amanda Thirsk, Andrew’s former private secretary. He said his understanding was that the program was a “commercial arrangement” from which he believed, but was not certain, that Andrew drew a salary.
Yang’s witness statement suggests that the UK security services were focused on the Eurasia Fund. He said a member of his staff had been stopped at Heathrow under counter-terrorism powers in September 2023 and questioned about the fund.
The documents suggest it was to raise money to invest in companies that were identified through Pitch@Palace events.
Yang said: “Any formal communications with the Chinese government in relation to the concept for the Eurasia Fund were done by the duke’s office through the Chinese embassy in the UK, and always through Mr Hampshire.” He claimed the fund would seek cash from investors in China and the Middle East.
Yang denies any wrongdoing and highlighted the visit by Rachel Reeves, the chancellor of the exchequer, to Beijing last month as demonstrating the UK’s “erratic” dealings with China.
“I reiterate that the allegations against me are entirely unfounded, I have done nothing wrong and I am seeking permission to appeal the decision reached by SIAC,” he said in a statement on Friday.
“The UK’s position on its dealings with China is inconsistent and erratic … In the weeks since the media circus surrounding the publication of the SIAC decision against me, the UK’s chancellor has met with Chinese vice-premier He Lifeng in Beijing, saying: ‘Choosing not to engage with China is no choice at all.’ ”
The Times
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