The British government has signed off on China building a “mega embassy” in central London in a decision that could have been purpose-timed to cause maximum friction with the United States, which has urged caution over handing such a coup to Beijing.
The new Chinese embassy in London has been approved after seven years of wrangling over permissions, the British Labour government announced on Tuesday morning. At over 200,000 square feet, the buildings will be the largest single embassy in London — eclipsing even the brand-new U.S. embassy — and likely the largest embassy in Western Europe too.
The building is due to be built on the former Royal Mint complex besides the ancient Tower of London, and its strategic position between the two financial capitals of the United Kingdom — the City of London and Canary Wharf — has informed some criticism over permission being granted for the mega-embassy.
Yet the proximity of the embassy to critical buried data cables did not hold Westminster back as it approved the plans, with the government noting no national security organisations had flagged concerns to Whitehall. Indeed, a joint letter by the heads of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency MI5 and signals intelligence and wiretapping outfit GCHQ noted on Tuesday that while they’d already warned “the UK needs both to defend resolutely against Chinese threats and seize the opportunities that demonstrably serve our nation”, there had been “mitigations” against Chinese espionage.
They said: “as with any foreign embassy on UK soil, it is not realistic to expect to be able wholly to eliminate each and every potential risk”, but nevertheless: “the package of mitigations deals acceptably with a wide range of sensitive national security issues, including cabling”.
The U.S. has warned the UK, both in public and behind the scenes, about the Chinese mega-embassy. Washington has previously stated it “remains deeply concerned about adversaries exploiting the critical infrastructure of our closest allies”, and even this week has spoken out. Visiting London as part of events to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Speaker Mike Johnson has made several clear references to Chinese espionage.
Speaking on Nigel Farage’s show on British broadcaster GB News, Johnson said on Monday night, hours before the UK government rubber-stamped the development: “in America we’re constantly concerned about China, their aggression, and what they do with the theft of intellectual property, brazenly. And we know they have intelligence efforts ongoing all the time.
“It’s not in our best interests, it’s not in the UK’s best interests, these are objective facts. The placement, we were hearing about the concern about the fibre optics that are underground… we have read about [the British] intelligence services that this is not as big of a concern as it may have seemed initially, I just think we have to be very guarded about China.”
He made reference again on Tuesday, within hours of the announcement, as he became the first U.S. speaker to address the British Parliament in history. He told a joint meeting of the houses: “we know those hostile to the West, to our shared values, are engaging in an increasingly sophisticated forms of subversion and espionage” including China.”
Newly minted Reform UK Member of Parliament Robert Jenrick reacted with dismay to the government’s decision, branding the Prime Minister “Kowtow Keir” for his eagerness to please China: it is stated that by signing off on the embassy, Starmer has cleared the way to him getting a visit to Beijing.
Jenrick said: “Kowtow Keir’s decision to approve the Chinese embassy is a spineless decision that will compromise our security for decades. For years the security agencies have warned about Beijing’s espionage, yet Starmer still gave the green light to a spy-hub that sits over some of the most sensitive data cables in London. It’s a giant, metaphorical fortune cookie for President Xi and his band of fifth columnists.”
