Yang Tengbo

Some Lesser Known Facts About Yang Tengbo

• Yang Tengbo grew up in Yunnan, China.

• After completing his graduation in History in 1995, Yang became a civil servant in China.

• He worked as a junior civil servant for a few years in China and moved to London to study language in the year 2002.

• In 2005, Yang founded a London-based consultancy firm named Hampton Group International that specialised in relations between British and Chinese companies. He is listed as a Director of the company.

• Besides Hampton Group International, Yang is also listed as a Director of four other companies in the UK.

• He was granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK on 21 May 2013 and on average he spent up to two weeks in the UK each month.

• He holds an honorary membership in the 48 Group Club, a pro-China lobbying organization.

• A member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Yang has allegedly worked for the CCP’s United Front Work Department.

  

• In an interview, he once revealed that he participated in the Chinese government’s Belt and Road Initiative in the United Kingdom.

• On 6 November 2021, Yang was held at a port under the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act, during which he was required to hand over his mobile phone and other digital devices. Apparently, on his devices, the authorities found a letter from Dominic Hampshire, an adviser to Prince Andrew, Duke of York. The letter contained an invitation for Yang to Andrew’s birthday party.

  

• In February 2022, he filed a legal claim to prevent the UK government from keeping his data, a case he initially won but later lost on appeal.

• He was then informed that UK authorities suspected he had ties to the United Front Work Department (UFWD), the covert division of the Chinese government responsible for managing Beijing’s cultural influence efforts.

• The UFWD has been connected to multiple instances of alleged Chinese state interference in Western nations, with researchers noting that it frequently attempts to influence legitimate Chinese business and community organizations abroad.

• In February 2023, Yang was removed from a flight to London while returning from Beijing. He was informed that the UK was in the process of deciding whether to ban him from entering the country.

• Yang’s lawyers requested that the government reveal the allegations against him and provide an opportunity for him to present his case.

• On 15 March 2023, then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman instructed the cancellation of Mr. Yang’s residency rights, stating that his presence in the UK would not be “conducive to the public good.” Mr. Yang was notified of this decision on 23 March 2023 and he quickly initiated a legal challenge.

• In August 2023, Yang filed a second appeal with the SIAC against the decision. Hearings were scheduled for July 2024. The tribunal was informed that Yang had claimed to have only limited connections to the Chinese state and that he had been told by one of Andrew’s advisors that he could engage with potential investors in China on Andrew’s behalf.

• In December, judges Charles Bourne, Stephen Smith, and Stewart Eldon rejected the appeal. They concluded that Braverman had been “entitled to decide that the applicant posed a risk to the national security of the United Kingdom” and that his exclusion was both justified and proportionate. The judges also noted that Yang had earned a significant, even unusually high, degree of trust from a senior member of the royal family” and suggested that the pressures on the duke could make him vulnerable to exploitation of such influence.

• After the judgement was passed, Andrew’s office announced that he had “ceased all contact” with Yang and that their interactions had been limited to “official channels, with no sensitive matters ever discussed.”

• On 16 December 2024, High Court judge Martin Chamberlain ruled that Yang’s identity could be made public. Previously, he had only been referred to as “H6.”

• Later that day, Yang issued a statement asserting,
  

  I have done nothing wrong or illegal, and the concerns raised by the Home Office against me are unfounded.”

• Yang emphasized that he
  

  would never do anything to harm the interests of the UK.”

  He also explained that he had instructed his legal team to disclose his identity due to the

  high level of speculation and misreporting in the media.”