The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday labelled as "preposterous" claims that a Chinese businessman had used his links with Britain's Prince Andrew to spy for Beijing.

"The development of China-UK relations is in the common interests of both countries and is also conducive to promoting world economic growth and responding to global challenges," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

"It is hoped that the United Kingdom will work with China to accumulate more positive factors and demonstrate the two countries' innate character of cooperation, mutual benefits and common wins," he added.

Meanwhile, the man at the centre of the row, Yang Tengbo, said he had done nothing wrong and was not a spy, after he was named in a British court as being a suspected Chinese agent.

Yang, described in a ruling last week by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission as a "close confidant" of Andrew, waived his right to anonymity on Monday so he could respond to the accusation.

"I have done nothing wrong or unlawful, and the concerns raised by the Home Office against me are ill-founded," he said in a statement released by his lawyer, referring to Britain's interior ministry.

"The widespread description of me as a 'spy' is entirely untrue."

Last week, British judges upheld a 2023 ban on Yang entering the UK, ruling that the the government had been "entitled to conclude that his exclusion was justified and proportionate". (Agencies)