Beijing’s initial proposal was rejected by the local authorities in 2022 over security concerns
China has renewed its bid to construct a massive embassy complex in central London, according to The Telegraph. Chinese officials are hopeful that relations with the UK will improve under Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership.
The Telegraph describes the proposed compound as a “super embassy,” which would occupy approximately six square kilometers on the site of Royal Mint Court, situated near the Tower of London.
The embassy complex is anticipated to be ten times larger than China’s current diplomatic hub in Marylebone, London. It will include an embassy, offices, 225 homes, and a cultural exchange center, as stated in planning documents submitted to the Tower Hamlets Borough Council, according to the newspaper.
A council spokesperson told The Telegraph, “the planning team are reviewing the application and public consultation has commenced. At this stage we do not have a target committee date.”
China purchased Royal Mint Court for £255 million ($324.6 million) in 2018, but its initial planning permission request was unanimously rejected by the council in 2022. Opponents of the plan, including local residents and some British MPs, argued that the embassy would attract anti-Chinese protesters and pose a threat to public safety in the area.
At the time of the rejection, China was the UK’s third-largest trading partner. However, diplomatic relations between London and Beijing were deteriorating. In 2021, Parliament passed a motion condemning China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority as “genocide.” The motion was denounced by the Chinese Embassy in London as “an outrageous insult and affront to the Chinese people.”
Relations worsened after six Chinese diplomatic staff allegedly assaulted a Hong Kong independence demonstrator during a riot outside the Chinese consulate in Manchester in October 2022. Two weeks later, MI5 Director Ken McCallum accused China’s ruling Communist Party of presenting “the most game-changing strategic challenge to the UK.”
Beijing resubmitted its embassy plans several weeks after last month’s general election, which was won in a landslide by the Labour Party.
According to British media reports, Foreign Secretary David Lammy plans to visit China in September, as part of what the government has termed an “audit” of its relations with the Asian superpower. China’s Global Times reported on Wednesday that Chinese officials view this trip as an opportunity to repair the two countries’ “bruised ties.”
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, former Conservative Party leader, told The Telegraph that Beijing was likely awaiting Labour’s ascent to power to determine if the party “can be persuaded into giving them the embassy it wants.” However, it remains unclear whether Labour’s China policy will significantly diverge from that of the Conservatives. Last month, George Robertson, former NATO chief appointed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer to review Britain’s defense policy, labeled China as a “deadly” threat to the UK.