Starmer’s China Reset Plans Undercut by Royal Access Scandal
(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s plan to boost ties with Beijing faces new hurdles after a Chinese businessman’s close links to Prince Andrew spurred demands for tougher restrictions on China’s operatives in the UK.
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The latest pushback was triggered when it emerged in court documents last week that a 50-year-old man, who acted as a business adviser to the Duke of York was banned from Britain on national security grounds in 2023. On Monday, he was named in the High Court as Yang Tengbo, a lobbyist who boasted of a web of political and business contacts in Britain.
The developments come at an awkward time for Starmer, who has tried to mend relations with Beijing — after years of strained ties under the Conservatives — as his new Labour government seeks sources of economic growth. The UK premier met China’s President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in Brazil last month, the first meeting between the leaders of the two nations in almost seven years.
China’s foreign ministry denied Yang was acting as a spy. “China’s actions have been above board and there is no such thing as deceitful actions or interference,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular news briefing. “I’d rather not have much comment on these baseless narratives.”
Even so, reports of Yang’s meetings with high-ranking members of the British establishment play into a long-running debate about how close to get to China. The UK is far from unique in trying to weigh security concerns against economic heft, but the question has resulted in an inconsistent approach across various governments.
The decision to block Yang’s entry has ramped up scrutiny of Starmer’s policy. Yet the spotlight is also on some of his Conservative predecessors, especially from before relations with Beijing nosedived over Hong Kong and other issues.
As well as working with Prince Andrew — the younger brother of King Charles III — the businessman was granted access to royal sites including the monarch’s residence Buckingham Palace, the Sunday Times and others reported. He also appears to have met former Tory premiers David Cameron and Theresa May.
Yang said in a statement on Monday that he had waived his anonymity to reduce speculation about him, arguing that he had “done nothing wrong or unlawful” and that concerns raised by the Home Office weren’t justified. “The widespread description of me as a ‘spy’ is entirely untrue,” he said.
Prince Andrew said in a statement Friday he had “ceased all contact” with the businessman following advice from the UK government.
“This case does not exist, sadly, in a vacuum,” Foreign Secretary David Lammy told reporters late Monday. “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.”
Starmer faces a difficult balance on what has become a key foreign policy problem. In his meeting with Xi, he raised human rights concerns including about the plight of a jailed newspaper publisher in Hong Kong. But he also pushed for “respectful” relations and said Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves would travel to China next year for talks on improving economic ties.
“Of course we are concerned about the challenge that China poses,” Starmer told reporters during a visit to Norway. “Our approach is one of engagement, cooperating where we need to cooperate, particularly for example on climate change, to challenge where we must and where we should, particularly on issues such as human rights, and to compete when it comes to trade.”
But in Parliament, former Conservative security minister Tom Tugendhat said MI5, Britain’s domestic security service, had advised the previous government that China should be placed in the “enhanced tier” of the UK’s foreign influence registration scheme — a proposal by the last Tory administration to require those acting in Britain on behalf of foreign powers to declare their activity.
Putting China on the “enhanced tier” would require those working at the direction of Beijing to declare the widest range of activity, and would likely risk angering the Chinese government.
Labour’s Dan Jarvis, the current security minister, suggested a decision by the new government on China’s status would not be made until next summer.
There has been mounting concern in the UK about alleged Chinese spying. Senior Labour ministers were informed after taking power that Chinese state actors have likely compromised its critical infrastructure networks, Bloomberg reported in October. UK officials have described such Chinese activity as systemic and more widespread than has previously been made public.
British officials have also accused Beijing of being behind data breaches at the UK defense ministry and voter watchdog, and have said Chinese military equipment is being used by Russia in Ukraine.
China has denied all those allegations and in turn said in June it had caught a foreign consultant spying for the British government.
Still, the new UK government tends to defend its position on China by pointing to an ongoing audit of the relationship — a default position that risks wearing thin as more serious concerns over human rights and cyber threats emerge and the review drags on.
Though it was past Conservative governments that pushed for a “golden age” in China relations, Starmer’s outreach efforts have been criticized by the current Tory opposition. Conservative lawmaker Iain Duncan Smith, who has been sanctioned by China, told the BBC the Chinese businessman was the “tip of the iceberg” and that “there are many more like him in the UK.”
--With assistance from Eleanor Thornber and Martin Ritchie.
(Updates with calls for tougher restrictions on Chinese operatives from first paragraph.)
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