US Congress members have suggested the UK should block China’s plans to open a “mega-embassy” in central London, in light of “significant security concerns” revealed by The i Paper.
The US Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party has warned that the project poses threats ranging from “interference and surveillance to risks for sensitive infrastructure like London’s financial services”.
In a post on X, the committee said: “We must work to urgently address this issue and work with our allies to protect national security.”
The statement was shared after The i Paper revealed that lobbyists with close ties to the Labour Party had been hired by the Chinese embassy to aid its controversial planning application to redevelop a huge complex of buildings near the City of London.
Last month, The i Paper also reported that the proposed embassy site is located close to a critical communication cables, which some British intelligence officers fear could be vulnerable to tapping efforts.
A report assessing China’s threat to the UK, compiled by intelligence agencies in 2019, specifically cited concerns about the cables, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the report.
China has argued that spying claims are “totally groundless and unreliable”. A spokesperson for its embassy said recently: “Anti-China elements are always keen on fabricating facts, slandering and attacking China.”
But reacting to the committee’s warning, the human-rights campaigner Luke de Pulford, who is executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said: “To the long list of problems associated with this disastrous embassy idea, we can now add alienating our most powerful ally.
“It’s highly unusual for foreign lawmakers to intervene in something like this. The fact that Congress is willing to make its views known shows how serious an error this would be for the Government.”
The Government has been attempting to thaw the UK’s political and economic relationship with China in recent months, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves travelling to China in January to drive investment.
A public inquiry into the proposed redevelopment of Royal Mint Court in the borough of Tower Hamlets is currently underway, but the final decision on whether it should ahead will be made by Angela Rayner.
The Prime Minister signalled in December that he hoped the scheme would go ahead, and it has won the backing of the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary.
However, this latest intervention is likely to cause a headache for the Government given the diplomatic tensions it is already facing with the US, over the future of Ukraine and the Chagos Islands.
A former CIA senior intelligence analyst, Martijn Rasser, warned in December that approving the Chinese embassy plan could be “very negative” to transatlantic relations.
“The UK plays a very special role through the Five Eyes partnership, and the bilateral relationship [with the US] is also very important and very strong. This would cause a lot of concern in Washington about Britain’s reliability as an intelligence partner.”
A former US diplomat, Craig Singleton, added: “If the UK moves forward, the US might explore mitigative measures – publicly or privately.”
The cross-party committee is led by Republican Representative John Moolenaar, who warned in a speech last month that he believes China approaches the US “as an enemy to be harmed rather than as a partner”.
Urging Congress to partner with the Trump administration on the issue, he said that Beijing “poses a military threat to America and our allies,” and that the US must “win the competition” against the Chinese Communist Party.
The UK Government has been contacted for comment.
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy said last month: “With the consent of the UK Government, the Chinese government purchased the related property a few years ago. Host countries have the international obligation to support and facilitate the building of the premises of diplomatic missions. Both China and the UK have the need to build a new embassy in each other’s capital, and the two sides should provide facilitation to each other.
“The Chinese Embassy in the UK is committed to promoting the friendship between the Chinese and British people and the development of bilateral relations between the two countries. Building the new embassy at an early date would help us better perform such responsibilities.”
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