Labour MPs urge minister to reject Chinese mega embassy

A group of Labour MPs have urged the government to reject China’s controversial plan to build a mega embassy in London, just days before the deadline for the decision.

In a letter to Communities Secretary Steve Reed, the nine MPs raise security concerns about the proposed site, while warning it would be used to “step up intimidation” against dissidents.

It come as local residents, who live in flats that are part of Royal Mint Court which Beijing wants to develop, say they are already gearing up to bring a legal challenge if Reed approves the project.

Downing Street has argued consolidating China’s diplomatic premises into a single site would have security advantages for the UK.

The government has said a decision will be made by 20 January and local residents have been told there will be no further delay.

Sir Keir Starmer has been planning a trip to China for early this year, which would be the first by a British Prime Minister since 2018.

Approval for the London embassy has long been a priority for China’s government, which bought the site for £255m in 2018.

In their letter, the MPs, who say they represent “the breadth and depth of our party”, write that “the concerns surrounding the proposed site remain significant and unresolved”.

The site, opposite the Tower of London and once home to the Royal Mint, would be the biggest embassy any country has in Europe.

Among the issues the MPs highlight are “the recent track record of Chinese espionage cases, interference activities, and issuing of bounties against UK-based Hong Kongers”, as well as “the fact that this embassy would sit above sensitive infrastructure critical to both the UK’s economic and national security”.

One of the signatories, Sarah Champion, who sits on parliament’s Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy has, in the past, had Chinese spyware found on her parliamentary computer.

“I’m hugely concerned by the level and range of security risks raised over the embassy, and I’m not reassured that they’re being taken seriously,” she told the BBC.

Several of the MPs who signed the letter, including Emily Darlington, MP for Milton Keynes Central, James Naish, MP for Rushcliffe, and Mark Sewards, MP for Leeds South West and Morely, have spoken out in the past about “transnational repression” by China seeking to silence critics abroad, including people from Hong Kong who have sought sanctuary in the UK.

In their letter the MPs say “an embassy of this size, in such a strategic position, would be used to step up intimidation against diaspora and dissidents”.

“Should this application be approved, we would feel unable to reassure our constituents that we are doing everything possible to protect them on British soil,” they add.

Among the other signatories, Phil Brickell, MP for Bolton West, Marie Rimmer, MP for St Helens South and Whiston, and Alex Sobel, MP for Leeds Central and Headingley, have all previously raised the case of Jimmy Lai, a British citizen who is a former Hong Kong newspaper tycoon and one of the territory’s highest profile pro-democracy figures.

He is facing a possible life sentence after being found guilty of “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces” under a controversial security law imposed on Hong Kong by China.

Sobel told the BBC, his concerns centred on national security and China’s ability to use the embassy site to “hack or disrupt” communications to the City of London, as well as concerns about Lai.

“We shouldn’t approve the plan before we see Jimmy Lai released and put on a plane to the UK. Our diplomacy should be more robust,” he said.

The letter was organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, (IPAC) an international group which seeks to campaign against what it sees as threats posed by China.

Downing Street has said the UK would not allow China to “interfere in our sovereign affairs” but has insisted approving the new London embassy would “clearly bring security advantages for the UK”.

China has agreed to close more than half a dozen sites it currently uses as diplomatic premises in London and consolidate its activities at Royal Mint Court if gets approved.

It is understood UK security services have scrutinised China’s proposal for its new embassy and not objected to it.

At the same time, the UK is waiting for its own £100m plan to redevelop the British Embassy in Beijing to be approved by China’s authorities.

The applications are not connected.

But the BBC has seen a letter obtained by IPAC, which was written by Boris Johnson in 2018 when he was foreign secretary, addressed to China’s Foreign Minister and State Councillor, Wang Yi.

In it Johnson said he welcomed “China’s larges overseas diplomatic investment” at Royal Mint Court and is happy for it to be “designated as diplomatic premises”, adding that “the re-development of our Embassy in Beijing will be one of our largest overseas diplomatic investments”.

“Once both these projects are complete, they will be bold expressions of the strength of UK-China bilateral relations,” he said.

“I am committed, as I am convinced you are, to ensuring that our projects develop alongside each other.”

The UK Embassy in Beijing was established on its current site in 1959. It is understood to be in urgent need of redevelopment as it is considered by diplomats to be unsuitable for modern needs .

In London, China’s planning application will be considered by the environment secretary, with advice from officials. He alone will take the final decision in the coming days.

Mark Nygate, of the Royal Mint Court Residents’ Association, told the BBC: “If the government grants the application then the residents plan to challenge.”

While he said residents could not appoint legal representation until the decision is made, Nygate said they had already seen “legal opinions that also give us a good starting point for our challenge”.