A business group supporting China’s application to open a super-embassy in London gave a “contribution of the year” award to the alleged Chinese spy linked to Prince Andrew, it has been claimed.
The China Chamber of Commerce in the UK backed allowing Beijing to turn the former Royal Mint building opposite the Tower of London into the largest Chinese embassy in Europe.
However, the organisation’s independence has been questioned because of its links to Yang Tengbo, who was banned from returning to the UK in 2023 on national security grounds.
Luke de Pulford, the director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said this meant the chamber’s evidence could not be relied on by planning inspectors who will advise Angela Rayner, the housing secretary, on whether to approve the scheme.
At the first day of a planning inspectorate hearing into the project, De Pulford said: “To the dismay of China analyst onlookers, Chinese state-owned enterprises will be making representations this afternoon.”
He added: “Further, the China Chamber of Commerce in the UK will be represented today by someone who gave a ‘contribution of the year’ award to Yang Tengbo.”
Yang has denied acting as a spy.
Tower Hamlets council refused planning permission for the embassy in 2022 but China submitted a new application after Labour came to power in July and this plan was called in by the government. President Xi has raised it with Sir Keir Starmer.
In his evidence, De Pulford said: “We have established that China is putting the UK under considerable pressure to permit the development, and, indeed, that the call-in may well have been a response to that pressure.”
He said that a joint letter written by Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, and David Lammy, the foreign secretary, in support of the application, added to his belief that “the government is minded to permit the application for diplomatic reasons”.
Christopher Katkowski KC, representing the embassy, said any planning decision must be “nation neutral” and accused some giving evidence of using the inquiry to “speak out against the Chinese government”.
No 10 said: “A final decision will be made in due course.”
The China Chamber of Commerce in the UK was contacted for comment.
