{"id":709415,"date":"2026-01-20T21:03:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T21:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/709415\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T21:03:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T21:03:15","slug":"britains-government-approves-new-chinese-embassy-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/709415\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain’s government approves new Chinese Embassy in London"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON (AP) \u2014 Britain\u2019s government on Tuesday approved a huge new Chinese Embassy<\/a> in central London, despite strong criticism from lawmakers across the political spectrum that it could become a base for espionage and intimidation of opponents.<\/p>\n

Local Government Secretary Steve Reed formally signed off on plans for the building near the Tower of London, after years of delays and legal challenges.<\/p>\n

Critics have long expressed concerns that the supersized embassy, set to be the biggest Chinese Embassy in Europe, will heighten risks of Chinese intelligence-gathering as well as amplify the threat of surveillance and intimidation of Chinese dissidents in exile<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The heads of two U.K. spy agencies said that while it\u2019s not realistic to eliminate all risk, appropriate \u201csecurity mitigations\u201d were in place.<\/p>\n

Plans for the embassy have been plagued by objections and protests since 2018, when China\u2019s government bought the site at Royal Mint Court, where Britain\u2019s money was once made, for 225 million pounds (around $300 million.)<\/p>\n

Opponents say the huge site sits too close to underground fiber optic cables carrying sensitive financial information between London\u2019s two main financial districts. British media have reported that the 20,000 square-meter (around 215,000 square-foot) complex would include 208 secret basement rooms close to the data cables.<\/p>\n

Criticism of the plan<\/p>\n

Dissidents have been among those who have protested the plans, saying a mega embassy housing large numbers of officials would further China\u2019s repression of activists abroad. <\/p>\n

Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the opposition Conservative Party, joined hundreds of protesters <\/a> who chanted \u201cno China mega embassy\u201d at the site Sunday. <\/p>\n

Critics argue that approving the embassy was a mistake that went beyond security at the building \u2014 they say it sends a signal that Britain bows to pressure from Beijing to avoid economic repercussions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government has capitulated to Chinese demands,\u201d Conservative security spokesman Chris Philp said.<\/p>\n

Security Minister Dan Jarvis insisted: \u201cWe don\u2019t trade off security for economic access.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helena Kennedy, a human rights lawyer and Labour Party member of the House of Lords, the upper house of the British Parliament, said that the decision was a dangerous step.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot reinforce the dangerous notion that Britain will continue to make concessions \u2014 such as granting a mega embassy \u2014 without reciprocity or regard for the rule of law,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Local residents said they were \u201cdetermined to keep fighting today\u2019s decision\u201d and planned to challenge the approval in the courts.<\/p>\n

Dialogue with China <\/p>\n

Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s government has repeatedly postponed its decision in recent months after multiple cases of alleged Chinese spying and political interference underlined concerns about the proposed embassy.<\/p>\n

In November, the domestic intelligence agency MI5 issued an alert to lawmakers<\/a> warning that Chinese agents were making \u201ctargeted and widespread\u201d efforts to recruit and cultivate them using LinkedIn or cover companies. <\/p>\n

Beijing has strongly denied those claims, calling them \u201cpure fabrication and malicious slander.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.K. government also has faced questions about whether it interfered in the trial of two men accused of spying<\/a> on Parliament for Beijing, and whose prosecution collapsed<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

The heads of the domestic security service MI5 and the electronic intelligence agency GCHQ said in a letter to ministers that \u201cas with any foreign embassy on U.K. soil, it is not realistic to expect to be able wholly to eliminate each and every potential risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the collective work across U.K. intelligence agencies and (government) departments to formulate a package of national security mitigations for the site has been, in our view, expert, professional and proportionate,\u201d MI5 chief Ken McCallum and GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler said.<\/p>\n

They said there were \u201cclear security advantages\u201d to consolidating China\u2019s current seven diplomatic premises in London onto one site.<\/p>\n

The government said that \u201cno bodies with responsibility for national security … have raised concerns or objected to the proposal on the basis of the proximity of the cables or other underground infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starmer has stressed that while protecting national security is nonnegotiable, Britain needs to keep up diplomatic dialogue and cooperation with the Asian superpower.<\/p>\n

The approval is widely expected to pave the way for a long-anticipated trip by Starmer to China, and an expansion of the U.K. Embassy in Beijing. The closely watched visit would be the first made by a British prime minister since 2018.<\/p>\n

China has complained about the seven-year delay<\/a> in approving the project, saying the U.K. was \u201cconstantly complicating and politicizing the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON (AP) \u2014 Britain\u2019s government on Tuesday approved a huge new Chinese Embassy in central London, despite strong…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[212702,11410,3801,748,51,1395,7684,47001,107169,393,2002,4179,4884,212703,8615,807,212704,257,18298,285,13216,212683,105379,16,15,11654,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-709415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-anne-keast-butler","9":"tag-asia-pacific","10":"tag-beijing","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-business","13":"tag-china","14":"tag-china-government","15":"tag-chris-philp","16":"tag-dan-jarvis","17":"tag-england","18":"tag-espionage","19":"tag-general-news","20":"tag-great-britain","21":"tag-helena-kennedy","22":"tag-international-news","23":"tag-keir-starmer","24":"tag-ken-mccallum","25":"tag-london","26":"tag-national-security","27":"tag-politics","28":"tag-protests-and-demonstrations","29":"tag-send-to-apple-news","30":"tag-steve-reed","31":"tag-uk","32":"tag-united-kingdom","33":"tag-united-kingdom-government","34":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115929455182349650","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}