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UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is expected to approve China’s contentious “mega” embassy close to the Tower of London, despite mounting strains in relations between the two countries.
While no final decision has been taken, Starmer is likely to approve the embassy, according to one government insider.
His government has been keen to nurture trade between the UK and China, but relations have increasingly soured over concerns about Beijing’s efforts to spy on Britain.
The UK government warned China on Monday that it would never accept attempts to “interfere in our sovereign affairs” after MI5 alerted MPs to Beijing’s intelligence services trying to recruit people who work in parliament.
Number 10 officials said they could not comment on the decision about China’s proposed new embassy, which is earmarked for the former site of the Royal Mint, because it is formally part of a quasi-judicial process.
Matthew Pennycook, planning minister, is overseeing the process and has said that a decision would be announced by December 10.
Conservative politicians have criticised the planned site, claiming that as the largest embassy in Europe it would become a spying hub for Beijing.
Concerns have also been raised over sensitive data cables that run underneath the site from the City of London.
The government called in China’s planning application for the embassy last year shortly after coming to power, and has delayed a decision until next month.
The Times first reported Starmer was expected to approve China’s embassy. It also said the UK security services, MI5 and MI6, were not expected to lodge objections through the Home Office or Foreign Office, so long as measures were put in place to protect national security.
That could help clear the way for Starmer to approve the project. He could visit China early next year, in what would be the first visit by a UK prime minister since Theresa May in 2018, although officials said no final decision had been made.
The UK also wants to rebuild its embassy in Beijing but has been struggling to secure approval from the Chinese government.
Sir Richard Moore, former head of MI6, told the FT this month he believed there had to be a compromise, saying: “They obviously need an embassy. We need one too.”
The UK’s relations with China came under scrutiny following the collapse of a case in September against two Britons accused of spying for Beijing.
Prosecutors blamed Starmer’s government for the failure of the case, saying officials had refused to call China an “enemy” or “national security threat” in court evidence.
The government denied sabotaging the case. The Britons who were charged, Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, denied any wrongdoing.
The Chinese embassy, responding to MI5’s alert to MPs, accused Britain of “fabrication and malicious slander” and warned the British government “to stop going further down the wrong path of undermining China-UK relations”.
