Dec. 3 (UPI) — Approval for a huge 215,000 sq. ft. Chinese “super embassy” in central London was postponed for a third time at the last minute, but was expected to get the go ahead in January after the government determined it was not a threat to national security.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government had been due to announce its decision Dec. 10, but said Tuesday that it needed more time, prompting protests from Chinese diplomats.
The final decision, more than three years after Tower Hamlets council refused to grant planning permission, was now due Jan. 20, ahead of a planned three-day visit by Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Beijing, the first by a British leader since 2018.
The move, overriding security concerns and local opposition to the facility, combining seven existing diplomatic sites dotted around London into a single embassy on the site of the former Royal Mint near Tower Bridge, came after the MI5 and MI6 assessed any risks were manageable.
Opponents argued the facility in the heart of the British capital, close to its financial district, and in particular its proximity to critical fiber-optic networks, would be a prime center for Chinese spying and surveillance operations, pursuing dissidents, or worse.
Local people were also opposed, in part, due to concerns about protests, while activists pointed to human rights issues in Hong Kong and Xinjiang province.
However, a spokesman for Starmer argued the reality was that the new embassy had significant security benefits for the United Kingdom.
“An independent planning decision will be made by the secretary of state for Housing, Communities and Local Government in due course,” said the spokesman. “Should the planning decision for a new embassy in the London borough of Tower Hamlets be approved, the new embassy will replace seven different sites which currently comprise China’s diplomatic footprint in London which clearly brings security advantages.”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, said they had “carefully considered” all the issues and had worked with police and others to ensure national security concerns had been addressed.”
However, they said they recognized “the importance of countries having functioning diplomatic premises in each other’s capitals.”
The new delay through next month was to allow additional time for consultation with all stakeholders.
The planned embassy, China’s largest anywhere in the world, has living accommodation for 200 staff, offices and significant underground space.
The site, which contains “listed” [protected] buildings and a residential block, was purchased by the Chinese government for $339 million in 2018.
Tower Hamlets councillors voted to reject the embassy’s planning application in 2022 and the then-Conservative government declined to intervene, stalling all progress until Starmer’s Labour administration came into office last year and took the matter out the local authority’s hands.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London criticized what they said was yet another hurdle stretching out the process into an eighth year.
“We strongly deplore the U.K.-side’s repeated postponement of the decision on the planning application for the new Chinese embassy project. We strongly urge the U.K. side to approve our planning application quickly to avoid further undermining the mutual trust and cooperation between the two sides,” the spokesperson said.