{"id":381544,"date":"2026-01-21T03:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T03:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/381544\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T03:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T03:56:09","slug":"uk-approves-chinese-mega-embassy-despite-espionage-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/381544\/","title":{"rendered":"UK approves Chinese \u2018mega-embassy\u2019 despite espionage concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United Kingdom <\/a>on Tuesday authorized a massive new Chinese<\/a> embassy in London, despite international concerns that the facility could be used to spy on the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The embassy, set to be China\u2019s largest in Europe, will sit on the Royal Mint Court, near the Tower of London. Members of parliament within both the ruling Labor and opposition Conservative parties have been outspoken in their objections, while House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) weighed in on the dispute this week, citing concerns that \u201cChina would have such a prominent place.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Housing Secretary Steve Reed dismissed critics this week, formally approving plans<\/a> for the $301 million site after a seven-year delay. The \u201cquasi-judicial\u201d decision had been made \u201cfairly, based on evidence and planning rules,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cthe decision is now final unless it is successfully challenged in court.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new embassy will replace and consolidate several diplomatic buildings China utilizes across London, including the country\u2019s main diplomatic premise in Portland Place, which Beijing has used since 1877.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Ahead of his address to the U.K. parliament<\/a> on Tuesday, Johnson echoed the concerns of leading British figures when he referenced the embassy\u2019s close proximity to underground fiber optic cables carrying sensitive financial information between London\u2019s two main financial districts. And Johnson lamented Britain\u2019s move to deepen ties with China, ahead of Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s trip to Beijing later this month. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made a similar pilgrimage<\/a> to the country last week, as Western nations increasingly look to other partners due to concerns the U.S. is not a \u201cpredictable\u201d ally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

China\u2019s new site does not mark a \u201cgreat development from our perspective,\u201d Johnson told Sky News<\/a>. \u201cI wish the U.S. had taken that spot instead of China \u2026 There is some symbolism to that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s part of the concern, just from friends who \u2014 and I say this as constructive criticism to our friends here \u2014 but it does send a certain message, it seems, that China would have such a prominent place and have such, as they would call it, a mega-embassy,\u201d he added. \u201cI wish that there was a lesser reliance upon China for everyone around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI), who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, also led U.S. opposition to the development. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.K.\u2019s decision defies common sense,\u201d Moolenaar said in a press release Tuesday. \u201cIt is effectively rewarding China for spying on Parliament<\/a>, interfering in the U.K.\u2019s elections, and fueling Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine. China is also suspected of cutting undersea cables, so letting it build on the land above critical infrastructure is a serious security risk. The only safeguard against the mega-embassy is to prohibit its construction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the controversy stems from a Daily Telegraph report, stating Beijing\u2019s new site contains an underground complex<\/a> of 208 rooms, including a \u201chidden chamber\u201d near the data cables, which had been previously blacked out in redacted plans.<\/p>\n

In a letter explaining its decision, the housing ministry said there was \u201cno suggestion\u201d that a \u201clawful embassy use of the site would give rise to any such interference.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The heads of Britain\u2019s intelligence services, the Security Service MI5 and the\u00a0Government Communications Headquarters, said Tuesday<\/a> it is \u201cnot realistic to expect to be able wholly to eliminate each and every potential risk.\u201d But they expressed confidence in efforts to \u201cformulate a package of national security mitigations for the site.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The statement comes after a group of nine Labour MPs who said they represent \u201cthe breadth and depth of our party\u201d warned Reed that \u201cthe concerns surrounding the proposed site remain significant and unresolved.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their letter highlighted \u201cthe recent track record<\/a> of Chinese espionage cases, interference activities, and issuing of bounties against U.K.-based Hong Kongers.\u201d Signatory Sarah Champion, who sits on parliament\u2019s Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, said she has previously found Chinese spyware on her parliamentary computer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Conservative MPs, among them opposition leader Kemi Badenoch, have aired concerns as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not want a country that spies on our MPs having this super-embassy right here,\u201d Badenoch said at a protest against the site over the weekend. \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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United Kingdom on Tuesday authorized a massive new Chinese embassy in London, despite international concerns that the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-381544","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\/381544","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=381544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}