U.K.-China relations are under strain over a Chinese businessman with close ties to Prince Andrew, the younger brother of Prince Charles. The British government believes Yang Tengbo to be a spy working for Beijing and has barred him from the country.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00A prince under pressure. Prince Andrew, brother of the British king, is facing mounting criticism
00:06over his close ties with this man, Yang Tengbo, a Chinese businessman who the UK government
00:13barred from the country for secretly working as a spy for Beijing, saying he posed a potential
00:19threat to national security, a position now validated by the country's courts.
00:25I welcome the court's decision to uphold the Home Office's position on Yang's exclusion
00:33and where individuals pose a threat, as you would expect, the UK government is absolutely
00:39committed to using the full range of powers available to disrupt them.
00:45Yang was allegedly working for the Chinese Communist Party's United Front, a shadowy
00:50organisation seeking influence overseas, including pushing Beijing's claims of sovereignty
00:55over Taiwan. Yang denies he was a spy and says he has done nothing unlawful. Yet his
01:02presence at the centre of the British establishment – he attended Prince Andrew's birthday
01:06parties and was pictured with previous prime ministers – has highlighted UK's vulnerability
01:11to China.
01:12Yang Tengbo, H6, was in fact not a lone wolf. He was one of some 40,000 members of the United
01:20Works Department, which the Intelligence Security Committee report last year said, and I quote,
01:25and known to government, had penetrated every sector of the UK economy, spying, stealing
01:30intellectual property, influencing and shaping our institutions.
01:34This diplomatic scandal and the security threat from Beijing it has highlighted is awkward
01:39timing for the UK leadership. With the country's economy flailing, the new Labour government
01:44is looking to boost ties and trade with China.
01:47Of course we are concerned about the challenge that China poses. Our approach, as you know
01:55I had a meeting with the President just a few weeks ago now, our approach is one of
02:00engagement, of cooperating where we need to cooperate, particularly for example on issues
02:06like climate change, to challenge where we must and where we should, particularly on
02:12issues like human rights.
02:15China has already reacted angrily to the UK's treatment of Yang, calling the accusations
02:19groundless hype. Recent developments have put a strain on the relationship as it was
02:25moving into a new phase, and raised questions over the risks of getting closer to Beijing.
02:32Easton Chen and Rick Lowatt for Taiwan Plus.