{"id":375705,"date":"2026-01-17T19:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T19:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/375705\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T19:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T19:29:11","slug":"dont-bow-to-china-protesters-march-against-chinese-mega-embassy-in-london-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/375705\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Don’t bow to China’: Protesters march against Chinese ‘mega embassy’ in London | World News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kemi Badenoch led hundreds of protesters in opposition to China’s proposed new mega-embassy in central London.<\/p>\n

Crowds were warned plain clothes Chinese police officers were among those gathered at the site of the former Royal Mint.<\/p>\n

It was the last chance for demonstrators to voice their concerns ahead of the government’s decision on the controversial planning application on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Chants of “mega embassy, mega mistake”, “don’t bow to China<\/a>” and “no mega embassy” rang out, while protesters raised their middle fingers towards the huge site.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Image:
\n The government is expected to approve the controversial embassy plans on Tuesday. Pic: PA.<\/p>\n

The location between the financial districts of the City of London and Canary Wharf has raised security concerns the embassy will be used as a spy hub, while dissidents fear it will be used as a base for repression.<\/p>\n

The Tory leader<\/a> took to a makeshift stage next to the site to assure protesters: “I stand with you”.<\/p>\n

“I tell you, I will always fight for freedom. I am calling on the government to stop this decision,” Ms Badenoch said.<\/p>\n

“We do not want a country that spies on our MPs having a super embassy right here, and I will do everything in my power to continue speaking on your behalf.”<\/p>\n

\"Conservative<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has called for the embassy developments to be blocked. Pic: PA.<\/p>\n

Reform UK MP Danny Kruger, Liberal Democrat MP Bobby Dean and Conservative MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith were also among the speakers.<\/p>\n

Sir Iain urged the government to “wake up” to the threat from China and said he was not reassured by the apparent lack of intervention from the UK security services.<\/p>\n

“The reality is that many in the security services know what the threat is, but they’re also kiboshed by the Foreign Office and the government,” he told Sky News.<\/p>\n

\"Some<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Some have raised security concerns the super-embassy will be used as a spy hub. Pic: PA.<\/p>\n

Some in the crowd carried placards featuring Sir Keir Starmer in compromising positions with Winnie the Pooh – often used to satirise Chinese president Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n

The government is expected to approve the controversial plans on Tuesday – ahead of the prime minister’s expected visit to China later this month.<\/p>\n

Many in the crowd were members of Chinese, Uighur and Tibetan diasporas in the UK or Hong Kongers exiled because of their pro-democracy activities.<\/p>\n

\"Chinese<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Chinese dissidents fear the embassy will be used as a base for repression. Pic: PA.<\/p>\n

Chloe Cheung, 20, who has a HK$1m (around \u00a3100,000) bounty on her head and is subject to an arrest warrant, said she already faces repression in the UK from China.<\/p>\n

“It’s devastating that I have been fighting for democracy, which is one of the British values,” she told Sky News<\/p>\n

“I don’t have any intention to harm Britain but I have been harassed and threatened every day because of speaking out for democracy.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Share<\/p>\n

\n Is China’s ‘super-embassy’ a threat?\n <\/p>\n

She said she was “horrified” at the prospect of the new mega embassy, adding: “The worst-case scenario is someone will kidnap me to the embassy.”<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:
‘Violent disorder’ at Iran’s London embassy leads to 14 arrests<\/a>
Jess’s Rule to be advertised in all GP clinics in England<\/a><\/p>\n

China maintains the new embassy is being built to “promote understanding and friendship” with the UK and “develop mutually beneficial co-operation”.<\/p>\n

\"Sir<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Sir Keir Starmer is expected to visit China later this month. Pic: PA.<\/p>\n

A Chinese embassy spokesperson previously told Sky News claims the new embassy poses a potential security risk to the UK are “completely groundless and malicious slander, and we firmly oppose it”.<\/p>\n

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “It is a normal feature of diplomatic relations for countries to maintain embassies -we have embassies worldwide, including in Beijing.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

“It goes without saying that national security has been a priority through this process. In terms of process, the decision will be made independently and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has set out that a decision will be made on or by 20 January.”<\/p>\n

Residents’ groups have already indicated they plan to challenge any decision to approve planning permission in the courts, so these demonstrations are likely to become a common sight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kemi Badenoch led hundreds of protesters in opposition to China’s proposed new mega-embassy in central London. Crowds were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-375705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}