After having been all over international media for days, ‘H6’ can now be named by the UK press as Yang Tengbo, otherwise known as Chris Yang, a director of the Hampton Group International consultancy. The offending institution…
Yang worked as a civil servant in China until he came to the UK on a student visa in 2002, after which he got a masters degreee and in 2005 founded what would become Hampton Group. He was given indefinite leave to remain in 2013. Yang is also an honorary member of the Beijing-linked 48 Group Club, which calls itself the “first western trade delegation to the newly formed People’s Republic of China.” Westminster’s links to Yang will now unravel…
UPDATE: A statement has been issued on behalf of Yang which claims he voluntarily waived his right to anonymity: “I have done nothing wrong or unlawful and the concerns raised by the Home Office against me are ill-founded. The widespread description of me as a ‘spy’ is entirely untrue.”
Read the full statement below:
“Due to the high level of speculation and misreporting in the media and elsewhere, I have asked my legal team to disclose my identity. I have done nothing wrong or unlawful and the concerns raised by the Home Office against me are ill-founded. The widespread description of me as a ‘spy’ is entirely untrue.
“This is why I applied for a review of the Home Office decision in the first place, and why I am seeking permission to appeal the SIAC decision. It is also why an order extending my anonymity up to the point of determination of the appeal process was granted.
“I have been excluded from seeing most of the evidence that was used against me under a process which is widely acknowledged by SIAC practitioners as inherently unfair: decisions are made based on secret evidence and closed proceedings, which has been described as ‘taking blind shots at a hidden target’.
“On their own fact finding, even the three judges in this case concluded that there was ‘not an abundance of evidence’ against me, their decision was ‘finely balanced’, and there could be an ‘innocent explanation’ for my activities. This has not been reported in the media.
“The political climate has changed, and unfortunately, I have fallen victim to this. When relations are good, and Chinese investment is sought, I am welcome in the UK. When relations sour, an anti-China stance is taken, and I am excluded.
“I am an independent self-made entrepreneur and I have always aimed to foster partnerships and build bridges between East and West. I have dedicated my professional life in the UK to building links between British and Chinese businesses. My activities have played a part in bringing hundreds of millions of pounds of investment into the UK.
“I built my private life in the UK over two decades and love the country as my second home. I would never do anything to harm the interests of the UK.”
Craig Beaumont, executive director of the Federation of Small Businesses:
“Business sentiment is now closer to dismay than confidence.”