After graduating with a degree in history, Mr Yang – described as a “close confidant” of the Duke of York – worked as a junior civil servant in China before moving to York in 2003. There, his English language skills improved rapidly and he graduated with a master’s degree in public administration, according to a BBC profile.
Prince Andrew, Duke of York.Credit: AP
In 2005, Mr Yang established a strategy advisory company to help company bosses in Beijing to network internationally.
The Chinese national, who began using the anglicised name of Chris Yang, was a central figure in arranging the first UK-China Business Leaders’ Summit, where he was seen with George Osborne, the then chancellor.
His connection to the Duke may have begun as early as 2016. Prince Andrew launched Pitch@Palace China that year, two years after founding the Dragons Den-style initiative in the UK.
Mr Yang was also invited to the Duke’s birthday party in 2020, and was described by the judges overseeing the case as a “close confidant” of his.
On Sunday, The Telegraph revealed that he had helped broker a top British private school’s expansion plans in China. The school can now be revealed to be Gordonstoun, the Scottish boarding school attended by the Duke as well as the King.
Hampton Group International signed a 12-year partnership with the elite school to open several branches on China’s mainland.
Mr Yang met some of Britain’s most influential figures, including the former prime ministers David Cameron and Theresa May.
He kept pictures of the encounters on the desk of his London office, although it is unclear whether Lord Cameron or Baroness May were in power when he met them.
The Home Office decided to exclude Mr Yang from the UK in July last year after MI5 deemed him to be an agent who had engaged in “covert and deceptive activity” on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, and that he posed a threat to national security.
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Mr Yang challenged his ban, but on Thursday the Special Immigration Appeals Commission ruled that Suella Braverman, the home secretary at the time, was justified in her decision to ban him from the UK.
The ruling revealed that a letter from a senior adviser to the Duke was found on Mr Yang’s phone, stating that he was authorised to act on behalf of the royal in engagements with potential partners and investors in China.
The Duke has said he “ceased all contact” with Mr Yang when concerns were first raised about him by the Government.
In 2019, Mr Yang, a member of the Chinese Communist Party, was photographed attending the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Beijing.
In an interview broadcast at the time, he praised China’s Belt and Road initiative, a vast project of exporting Chinese-funded infrastructure projects abroad.
“China-UK co-operation in third-party markets is showing new characteristics of effectively reducing the risk of conflict and promoting harmonious regional development,” he said. Asked how he was able to gain such close access to high-ranking figures, Mr Yang replied: “Trust is the most important thing.”
He attended the conference again in 2022 and told delegates that “China needs to cultivate global talents, and the international community also needs to cultivate talents who know China”.
Mr Yang was also an honorary member of the 48 Group Club, which describes itself as the product of the “first Western trade delegation to the newly-formed People’s Republic of China” in 1954.
The club’s founder was made an honorary Red Guard member by Mao Zedong, and today the organisation is frequently praised in Chinese media.
In Hidden Hand, a 2020 book by Australian researchers looking at covert Chinese influence worldwide, it was accused of acting as a conduit for the Chinese state to “groom” senior British businessmen and political figures.
The club insisted it acted only in the UK’s national interest, and tried to block the publication of the book.
Mr Yang can be found among the honorary members in an archived who’s who page from 2022, where he is listed as “Mr Chris Yang, Chairman, Hampton Group”.
The club told Radio Free Asia that Mr Yang’s membership had been rescinded in light of the allegations against him. It claimed he had “never had any involvement with the work of the 48 Group.”
