{"id":380481,"date":"2026-01-20T15:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T15:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/380481\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T15:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T15:08:11","slug":"plans-for-huge-chinese-embassy-in-london-approved-by-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/380481\/","title":{"rendered":"Plans for huge Chinese embassy in London approved by government"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Analysis\"Hugely sensitive decision that was bound to be met with criticismpublished at 13:08 GMT<\/p>\n

13:08 GMT<\/p>\n

\"\"Damian Grammaticas
Political correspondent<\/p>\n

This decision is a hugely sensitive one. Whenever it was
\ndelivered it was always going to be met with criticism from all sides, and
\naccusations that the government was bending too far to accommodate China.<\/p>\n

A final decision was delayed several times last year,
\nostensibly because the government was seeking more information.<\/p>\n

But, at the time controversies over Chinese spying in the UK
\nand targeting of dissidents had already raised the political temperature, so
\ndelaying was also politically expedient.<\/p>\n

For China securing permission was its top priority in
\nrelations with the UK. Having a huge and prominent embassy in a key location
\nwould be a symbol of China’s diplomatic heft.<\/p>\n

From the UK’s perspective, with Sir Keir Starmer expected to
\nvisit Beijing in the near future, the approval lays the groundwork for
\nengagement China on a whole range of issues, from trade to security and human
\nrights.<\/p>\n

The government’s view is that does not mean the UK is “soft”
\non China in any way, but dealing, pragmatically with a major power that cannot
\nbe ignored. The security risks have been considered and deemed not serious
\nenough to veto the plan.<\/p>\n

As for how it may be taken by the US. So far it’s been
\nvoices in Congress, critics of China, who have voiced opposition to the mega
\nembassy.<\/p>\n

Downing Street may be waiting to see if President Trump
\nfeels the need to weigh in on this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hugely sensitive decision that was bound to be met with criticismpublished at 13:08 GMT 13:08 GMT Damian GrammaticasPolitical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-380481","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\/380481","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=380481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}