Prince Andrew’s Chinese associate banned from UK over national security risk

Reuters
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A Chinese businessman who had established close ties with Prince Andrew and was authorized to act on his behalf to seek investors in China, was banned from Britain on national security grounds.

The 50-year-old, who was granted anonymity and called only H6, was taken off a Beijing-London flight in February 2023 and told Britain intended to ban him access to the country. This happened the following month.

H6 appealed the ban to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), which dismissed his case in a written decision on Thursday – the first time the reported relationship has come to light.

Buckingham Palace no longer comments on matters relating to Andrew, who was removed from royal duties by the palace in 2022, and Reuters was unable to reach him or a representative for comment.

The ban on the Chinese businessman came after content from his phone was downloaded when he was arrested under anti-terrorism laws at a British border in 2021, the judgment said.

This reveals that Prince Andrew authorized him to set up an international financial initiative to engage with potential partners and investors in China. The judgment does not specify what the fund was intended for.

Documents on his phone suggested that H6 had “deliberately obscured his links” with the Chinese Communist Party and the United Front Work Department and that he was able to establish relationships between prominent British figures and senior Chinese officials over which Beijing could take advantage of, according to the judgment.

The United Front Work Department is a network of groups that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has described as a “magic weapon” to boost Beijing’s reach abroad.

In a statement, the Chinese embassy in London said some people in Britain were willing to make up “all kinds of spy stories against China”.

“Their aim is to defame China and sabotage normal human exchanges between China and the UK. We strongly condemn this,” the statement said.

The SIAC decision revealed a letter from a senior advisor to Andrew to H6 from March 2020, which indicated that H6 had been invited to Andrew’s birthday party that month and stated: “I also hope you are clear where you are sitting with my manager and indeed his family.

“You should never underestimate the strength of that relationship… outside of his closest internal confidants, you are sitting at the very top of a tree that many people would love to be on.”

He adds that following a meeting between Andrew, H6 and the advisor, they “wisely bypassed the previous private secretaries and we found a way to carefully remove people we don’t fully trust”.

“Under your direction, we found a way to move the affected individuals in and out of Windsor House unnoticed,” the letter said. The judgment does not specify who these people are nor does it give the reasons for possible distrust.

The prince, 64, eighth in line to the throne, served as Britain’s roving trade ambassador from 2001 to 2011.

He was forced to retire from public office in 2019 about his friendship with the late American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew has always denied any accusations of wrongdoing. In 2022, the royal family deleted its military ties and royal patronages.

The SIAC decision referenced a 2021 document recovered from H6’s device that listed talking points from a call between him and Andrew, which said the prince “is in dire straits and will hold on to n ‘whatever’.

Justice Charles Bourne said in his judgment that H6 had “earned a significant, one might say unusual, degree of trust from a senior member of the royal family who was prepared to enter into commercial activities with him “.

The judge added: “This occurred in a context where, as contemporary documents show, the Duke was under considerable pressure and could be expected to value (H6’s) loyal support .

“It is clear that the pressures placed on the Duke could make him vulnerable to abuse of this type of influence.”

Bourne said the UK Home Office was entitled to conclude that H6 had significant links to the Chinese Communist Party and the United Front Work Department and had the ability to “take advantage” of its relationship with Andrew.