UK committee worried China’s super embassy
London — A British parliamentary committee has urged a Cabinet minister to block China’s plans for a new London “super embassy,” saying it would harm the UK’s security and economic resilience.
The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (JCNSS) said approving the application was “not in the UK’s long-term interest”, in a letter to Housing and Planning Secretary Steve Reed.
A decision on whether to approve the proposed site near the Tower of London is expected on Tuesday October 21, although that could be pushed back as Reed indicated on Monday it would come within weeks.
Committee chairman Matt Western wrote to Reed saying that the proposed location in east London presents “eavesdropping risks in peacetime and sabotage risks in a crisis” due to its proximity to fibre-optic cables, data centres and telecoms exchanges serving business hubs Canary Wharf and the City.
He also noted reports of plans for basement rooms and tunnels and that the security services have warned that allowing Beijing to set up the biggest embassy in Europe would create a hub for the country to expand its “intelligence gathering and intimidation operations.”
The looming decision on the embassy comes as the government faced continued pressure over its handling of a collapsed Chinese spying case.
Western said the case is a recent reminder of the scale of China’s alleged illicit activities.
“We urge you to acknowledge that approving this decision is not in the UK’s long-term interest, and the consequences of having such a site will be very difficult to handle if relations with Beijing worsen in future,” he said on Wednesday.
“We therefore urge the government to keep long-term national security at the forefront of its decision-making, and this must be demonstrated in your response to the embassy planning application.
“The UK’s security and economic resilience will be negatively affected if the plans are allowed to proceed as currently proposed.”
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