(TibetanReview.net, Feb10’25) – With Britain’s recently elected Labour government having all but approved China’s new sprawling embassy complex plan in London despite strong and repeated opposition, objection and rejection from local residents and authorities, including the Mayor of London, as well as numerous others concerned groups, thousands of people have taken to the street on Feb 8 to register their protest. If approved, the new complex will be 10 times bigger than the current Chinese embassy and become the country’s largest diplomatic mission in Europe, noted The Independent Feb 9.
Participating in the protest were around 4,000 people belonging to Tibetan, Uyghur, Chinese and Hong Kong rights groups, reported rfa.org Feb 8. They have voiced fears that Beijing would use the “mega-embassy” building to harass and monitor dissidents living abroad.
“Chinese embassies are like a watchdog and serve as a base to control so-called minorities like Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hong Kongers and also to human rights defenders and other Chinese dissidents,” the report quoted Tsering Passang, founder and chair of the UK-based Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities, as saying.
The site is the historic former Royal Mint Court – located near the landmark Tower of London – with the protest event having taken place at the site just days ahead of a crucial pre-approval inquiry session starting on Feb 11.
The Chinese government purchased the historic building complex for more than £255 million in 2018 with plans to make the site its largest diplomatic and cultural exchange facility globally, including with its 225 apartment units.
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The report said the massive protest brought together nearly 30 different rights groups. Many wore masks and dressed in black, carried flags, and displayed placards with slogans such as “UK Government, don’t reward repression. Say no to China’s super embassy,” “Stop Chinese secret policing in the UK”, and so forth.
The report said several protestors wrestled with and shouted at a line of police officers. About halfway through the protest, officers could be seen dragging a woman to a police van, prompting protestors to block the van and shout for her release.
The local Tower Hamlets Police have said two people were arrested on suspicion of breaching Section 14 conditions, which require that protesters stay within a designated area and later released.
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The final decision for approving the new embassy complex plan rests with the national government, which is why it is still on the table despite having been rejected twice already by the local Tower Hamlets Council.
A public inquiry will be held in front of a planning inspector over Feb 11-18, after which British Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State Angela Rayner will decide whether or not permission should be granted, the council has said in a statement.
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Among those who spoke at the protest event were stated to be several British politicians, including former Security Minister Tom Tugendhat, Labour parliamentarian Blair McDougall, Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick, and former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, who expressed solidarity with the protestors.
They have warned that the British intelligence services had indicated that the new Chinese Embassy complex would become a massive “spy base,” threatening not only exile communities of Hong Kongers, Tibetans and Uyghurs, but also local residents and British national security.
They have criticized the UK government for their apparent support for the project, disregarding public opinion.
“Tower Hamlet came out this morning and said they stand by their original objection. That means that the local council didn’t approve it, no local residents wanted it, and a large number of politicians in Westminster do not want it either,” Smith has said.
He has said the UK government’s apparent support for the embassy plan’s approval was “promised” by Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Chinese President Xi Jinping at their meeting on Nov 18, 2024, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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China had earlier chosen not to appeal against the decision of the Tower Hamlets borough council decision in 2022 to reject the proposal amid speculation that the Conservative government at the time would have backed the council’s decision. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan upheld the council’s decision in Feb 2023 and China then missed the deadline to appeal to the planning inspectorate, apparently ending the saga, noted the standard.co.uk Feb 9.
However, the situation changed with the Labour Party’s win last year which was followed by a vow to improve relations with Beijing. China resubmitted largely unchanged plans just weeks after Labour won the general election, said The Telegraph Feb 9.
The report quoted Mr Jenrick as saying: “Don’t take it from me. Take it from the police and our security services. Take it from Ken McCallum [the head of MI5] who said himself that the number one espionage threat to our country is China.
“Why, when you have China stealing our intellectual property, spying on members of our government, sanctioning members of Parliament and intimidating, harassing British citizens day in, day out – why would we allow them to have here the biggest mega embassy and spy headquarters in Europe? No self-respecting country would do that. We have to stand against it.”
“We have to fight this tooth and nail.”
He has called Starmer’s alleged promise to Xi to approve the new embassy complex plan a mockery of the legal process.