(TibetanReview.net, Nov22’25) – Despite strong domestic opposition, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to approve plans for a controversial new Chinese “super embassy” in the heart of London ahead of his proposed visit to Beijing in the new year, reported news.sky.com as well The Times, Nov 21. China’s secrecy about aspects of the embassy plan has raised suspicions that the new sprawling complex could be used as a hub for conducting espionage and carrying out transnational repression which is one reason why Tibetan, Chinese dissident, and human rights groups have been protesting against the plan.
A final decision on the planning application for the former Royal Mint site near the Tower of London is due on Dec 10, after numerous previous delays. The Conservatives are understood to be firmly against the new embassy.
According to The Times, both the Home Office and Foreign Office are unlikely to raise any formal objections to the plan if appropriate “mitigations” are put in place to protect national security after the UK’s domestic and foreign security services – MI5 and MI6 – gave their nod to the proposals.
The report cited a government source at Whitehall as suggesting the mega embassy’s approval on Dec 10 was now seen as only a “formality”.
Starmer is expected to travel to China next year as Britain seeks to bolster economic relations with Beijing, becoming the first UK prime minister to visit China since Theresa May in 2018.
The embassy proposal is highly politically sensitive due to concerns about Chinese espionage activities in the UK, inflamed by the collapse of a recent court case involving two men accused of spying for China, noted the news.sky.com report.
China had warned of “consequences” for bilateral ties if its new UK embassy was not given planning permission. A decision on China’s proposals for extensive development at the site had been delayed repeatedly over security concerns, given that it is set to run above a vast web of fibre-optic cables used to carry information into the City of London.
China bought the 20,000 square metres of land at Royal Mint Court in 2018 for 225 million pounds and submitted plans to the local Tower Hamlets Council to turn the site into a much larger London embassy than its current location at Portland Place, near Baker Street. Those plans were rejected and amid local protests, the government had “called in” the proposals for a review – a move reserved for planning applications involving issues of national significance, noted The Times report.
The reports on the government’s plan to approve the embassy plan have come just days after Britain’s parliamentarians were warned against activities by China-linked agents to spy on them. MI5 had issued an “espionage alert”, identifying two specific LinkedIn profiles of women carrying out activities on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS).
“This activity involves a covert and calculated attempt by a foreign power to interfere in our sovereign affairs in favour of its own interests, and this government will not tolerate it,” the report quoted UK Security Minister Dan Jarvis as telling the House of Commons earlier this week.
China has dismissed all espionage allegations, with an embassy spokesperson saying that “anti-China elements are always keen on slandering and attacking” the country.