{"id":376087,"date":"2026-01-18T00:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T00:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/376087\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T00:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T00:44:12","slug":"opponents-of-chinas-mega-embassy-rally-in-london-as-approval-deadline-nears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/376087\/","title":{"rendered":"Opponents of China\u2019s mega-embassy rally in London as approval deadline nears"},"content":{"rendered":"

London
\n AP
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n Britain\u2019s main opposition leader joined a demonstration Saturday against China\u2019s planned new embassy i<\/a>n London, days before a deadline for the government to approve or block the project.\n <\/p>\n

\n Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch urged the Labour Party government to reject the plans, saying the Chinese government had \u201charassed and sanctioned\u201d members of Parliament and \u201cabused British nationals connected to China.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe know that we have to stand up to the abuses of China. And what worries me is that we have a government right now that seems to be scared of China,\u201d she told hundreds of demonstrators who gathered at the site, chanting, \u201cNo China mega-embassy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Politicians from several opposition parties addressed the rally.\n <\/p>\n

\n After years of delays and legal challenges, the government has set a deadline of Tuesday to decide whether to approve plans for the largest Chinese embassy in Europe on the former site of the Royal Mint, near Tower Bridge. The government is widely expected to green-light the development.\n <\/p>\n

\n China has complained about a seven-year delay in approving the project, saying the United Kingdom was \u201cconstantly complicating and politicizing the matter.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Demonstrators<\/p>\n

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

\n Approving the embassy would pave the way for a long-anticipated trip by Starmer to China and an expansion of the UK Embassy in Beijing.\n <\/p>\n

\n Opponents say the 20,000-square-meter (215,000-square-foot) Chinese Embassy complex, near London\u2019s financial district and close to crucial data cables, will be used as a base for espionage and for the surveillance and intimidation of Chinese dissidents in exile.\n <\/p>\n

\n Britain\u2019s intelligence and security services have issued a series of warnings about Chinese espionage activity. In November, the MI5 domestic intelligence agency 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.\n <\/p>\n

\n However, UK security services are thought to have approved the embassy development.\n <\/p>\n

\n Some security experts say the risks are manageable and that the embassy has the advantage of consolidating China\u2019s current seven diplomatic premises in London onto one site.\n <\/p>\n

\n Ciaran Martin, the former head of Britain\u2019s National Cyber Security Centre \u2013 part of the GCHQ intelligence agency \u2013 said that no British government would override the security services if they said that the project was too risky.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cUnless we want to sever diplomatic relations with China, the location of their embassy becomes an issue of practicalities, security assessments and counterintelligence operations,\u201d he wrote in The Times of London.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London AP \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Britain\u2019s main opposition leader joined a demonstration Saturday against China\u2019s planned new embassy in London,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-376087","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\/376087","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=376087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}