Yang rose to grow to be the pinnacle of the Chinese arm of Prince Andrew’s entrepreneur enterprise scheme Pitch@Palace, alongside his personal enterprise Hampton Group, which had contracts with China’s state broadcaster. Yang was mentioned to have been to Buckingham Palace, the King’s most prestigious residence, on no less than two events as a visitor of the prince.
“Useful fool”
Andrew was pressured to drag out from his household’s Christmas celebrations, British newspapers reported on Sunday, amid public anger over his position in a second main scandal in 5 years. He was labeled as “one in all Beijing’s so-called ‘helpful idiots’” by former Conservative MP Bob Seely, as lawmakers within the House of Commons held a fiery debate over how, as former Tory Leader Iain Duncan Smith put it, “somebody who was identified to the safety providers was allowed to get so near a member of the royal household.”
Duncan Smith informed his fellow MPs the alleged spy was not a “lone wolf” however one in all 40,000 members of the United Front Works Department, an arm of the Chinese Communist Party which seeks to wield affect overseas.
Sari Arho Havrén, a specialist in China’s international relations on the RUSI suppose tank, informed POLITICO: “A detailed relationship with Prince Andrew may serve a number of functions — ‘elite seize’ for one. These are influential individuals who can converse positively on behalf of the Chinese authorities, probably affect the royal household from inside, and thus act as a Beijing-friendly energy base throughout the U.Okay.
“A detailed relationship with Prince Andrew can even open doorways to different significant contacts and other people the place an in depth relationship to a member of the royal household works as a gateway and assure of reliability.
“And right here, Yang was fairly profitable, as he did acquire entry to senior politicians, for example former prime ministers.”
