Fergie and Zara paid hundreds of thousands by Hong Kong tycoon with link to China’s shady foreign influence network

A Hong Kong tycoon who paid Sarah Ferguson and Zara Tindall hundreds of thousands of pounds is linked to China’s shadowy foreign influence network, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

A well-known figure in society circles, Dr Johnny Hon, 53, attended the wedding of Prince Andrew’s daughter, Princess Beatrice, and has been photographed with a string of politicians including Tony Blair and David Cameron.

Sarah Ferguson received almost £300,000 from a firm chaired by the wealthy businessman, while Zara Tindall signed up to advise him for around £100,000 a year in 2017.

But this newspaper has uncovered Dr Hon’s ties to organisations that experts say are part of the Chinese Communist Party’s secretive campaign to wield influence abroad.

It comes after it was revealed that a ‘close confidant’ of the Duke of York was an alleged Chinese spy who has been banned from entering the UK after an investigation by MI5. 

Suspected spook Yang Tengbo, formed an ‘unusual degree of trust’ with Andrew, according to bombshell court papers, and attended events at Buckingham Palace and Windsor The scandal rocked the Royal Family and led to Andrew being branded ‘one of Beijing’s useful idiots’.

It also threw a spotlight on a myriad of groups tasked with so-called ‘united front’ work, which has been described by President Xi Jinping as a ‘magic weapon’ and which intelligence experts say includes foreign interference.

The MoS can reveal that for more than decade Dr Hon has been a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in the Heilongjiang province in North East China. Court papers reveal that British security authorities regard the CPPCC as ‘central’ to China’s ‘united front’ system, while the FBI has said it ‘enforces the rules and regulations’ of the Communist Party abroad.

Sarah Ferguson received almost £300,000 from a firm chaired by wealthy businessman Dr Johnny Hon (pictured)

Zara Tindall signed up to advise him for around £100,000 a year in 2017 (pictued with Dr Johnny Hon in May 2017)

Dr Hon told the MoS he was vetted for his position by officials from the United Front Work Department (UFWD) – a powerful arm of the Communist Party that coordinates ‘united front’ work and which Christpher Yang is alleged to have worked for.

The newspaper’s investigation can also reveal how Dr Hon:

• Travels the world pushing China’s interests – this year visiting both Belarus and Russia, where he posed next to a bust of Lenin;
• Acted as a fixer for the brutal North Korean regime;
• Served as the vice president of another organisation that experts say is run by the UFWD.

Experts say the term ‘united front’ refers to an array of groups working to push the goals of the Communist Party.

A 2020 report by the respected Australian Strategic Policy Institute stated: ‘United front work generally involves covert activity and is a form of interference that aids the Chinese Communist Party’s rise and reduces resistance to its encroachment on sovereignty.’ And last night Australian academic Clive Hamilton, a global authority on China, said: ‘Hon has held a number of positions in organisations at the centre of the Communist Party’s united front system for exerting influence abroad.

‘Members of the Royal Family have shown themselves to be “Babes in the Wood” when offered cash by Chinese businessmen. Don’t their alarm bells ring, just a bit?’

There is no suggestion the Duchess of York or Zara Tindall knew of Dr Hon’s work in China.

Dr Hon said that he is not a member of the Communist Party and does not take instruction from the UFWD or carry out work on behalf of the organisation. He insisted ‘united front’ simply means groups of people joining together in areas of shared interest. ‘I am emphatically not a part of any effort by China to penetrate the British establishment,’ he said.

The Mail On Sunday can reveal the well-known figure in society circles is linked to China’s shadowy foreign influence network

Dr Johnny Hon, who is now 53, pictured with former Prime Minister David Cameron in February 2018

Educated at Uppingham School in Rutland, in the East Midlands, where boarding fees are more than £55,000 a year, Dr Hon lives in a £28 million house in Hong Kong and has the titles of the Lordship of Chepstow and Barony of Carlingford Castle in Ireland.

His business interests have spanned gold-mining, oil drilling gambling, horse-racing, West End musicals and Hollywood films.

The tycoon has regularly posted pictures online of a multi-millionaire lifestyle, posing alongside Hollywood A-listers and sports stars. His personal website is full of pictures of him with British royals, including the then Duchess of Cambridge in 2016, Prince Harry, Prince Philip and the Duchess of York.

In 2019, the Daily Mail revealed that Zara Tindall, 43, was paid £100,000 a year for a non-executive directorship at the Global Group of companies owned by Dr Hon. Appointed to advise on horse racing for a sports investment arm, she was reportedly required to attend two board meetings by telephone a year and four company functions.

The Duchess of York, 65, meanwhile, was paid £290,000 as a loan from Gate Ventures, a firm chaired by Dr Hon, in 2017. Her spokesman has previously said this solely related to her fledgling company Ginger & Moss, which makes tea.

Dr Hon said the idea of working with the Duchess came from Gate’s chief executive and the decision to pay her £290,000 ‘was made jointly by the board and not by me personally’.

Gate Ventures also paid her a £72,000-a-year salary after she became a director in July 2017.

And she also reportedly received a £72,000-a-year retainer for her non-executive directorship of Dr Hon’s film investment company in Hong Kong between June 2017 and October 2018. Dr Hon said this was ‘the standard payment package’ for that position at the time.

Dr. Johnny Hon with former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair MP in May 2006 

The MoS can reveal that in 2011 Dr Hon joined the Heilongjiang Provincial Committeeof the CPPCC. In 2018 he was promoted to become a ‘standing committee’ member and went on to win an award for his ‘outstanding work in that role.

A picture posted online earlier this year by Dr Hon shows him speaking at a CPPCC event in front of a row of party officials and ten huge red Chinese Communist flags. He spoke of a ‘pivotal meeting’ with the Communist Party Secretary of Heilongjiang, whose ‘guidance to committee members was invaluable, empowering us to fulfil our roles more effectively.’

The national CPPCC, and its provincial branches, advises the ruling Communist party as part of what China’s leaders claim is a ‘democratic’ process.

But court papers released last week reveal that British security services view the CPPCC as ‘a political advisory body that is central to the [Communist Party’s] united front system.’

China expert Mr Hamilton said: ‘The CPPCC works in parallel with the UFWD and both are essential components of the CCP’s united front system.’

Dr Hon said the CPPCC promotes ‘dialogue and engagement’ and his involvement with the organisation is ‘purely on a provincial level’.

He, however, accepted he had been vetted for the position by the UFWD. ‘They are like the vetting people. If you fail the test, then you get removed from the position, I suppose, but you don’t take instruction from them. I have never taken any instruction from the United Front Work Department.’

It comes after it was revealed that a ‘close confidant’ of the Duke of York – Yang Tengbo- was an alleged Chinese spy who has been banned from entering the UK after an Mi5 investigation 

Dr Hon also served as vice president of Heilongjiang’s ‘Overseas Friend Association’ between 2010 and 2015, and has worked with at least four other such associations. Mr Hamilton, whose book Hidden Hand exposed China’s foreign influence networks, said these associations are ‘directly run by the UFWD’. He added: ‘Dr Hon’s roles in Overseas Friendship Associations also tie him into the united front system and the UFWD.’

The MoS can also reveal that Dr Hon last year called for closer cooperation with Vladimir’s Putin’s Russia and spent five days visiting three cities in Russia’s Far East in July. He also visited Belarus, one of Putin’s key allies, in April praising his hosts online for their ‘great hospitality’.

Luke de Pulford, founder of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said: ‘It is extraordinary that members of the Royal Family have received payments from someone who is clearly a member of a united front body. There appears to be a failure of due diligence here.

‘It’s crucial people understand that the UFWD and other groups engaged in united front work are not benevolent organisations. Naivety is no excuse.’

Dr Hon said: ‘My interactions with Royal Family members and any other UK public figures were entirely professional, above board, not carried out at the direction or instigation of any third party and completely unrelated to any concept of “penetrating the establishment”. My work is transparent and is promoted across all public and social media channels.’

The Duchess of York and Zara Tindall both declined to comment.