Sir Keir Starmer is being urged to stop China from building a new “super embassy” in central London over major concerns it will be used to significantly boost the country’s espionage capabilities.
Beijing wants to use a vast site in the heart of the capital as a new diplomatic hub. But intelligence experts say it will allow the regime to station more spies and use increasingly powerful surveillance equipment close to sensitive UK infrastructure.
The Government is facing urgent questions about the highly controversial project after the revelations that an alleged Chinese spy had links to Prince Andrew and met with senior political figures.
A high-ranking ex-MI6 officer told The i Paper that the huge site close to the City of London’s financial centre will inevitably be used for “electronic collection”.
Two former US security officials also warned that approving plans for the biggest embassy complex in Europe could lead Washington to consider “mitigative measures” on intelligence sharing, over fears Britain could be a soft touch.
Royal Mint Court, the proposed site of China’s new UK embassy (Photo: Carl Court / Getty Images)Beijing hopes to redevelop former Royal Mint buildings near the Tower of London which it bought in 2018. Hitting out against “anti-China clamours made by a handful of UK MPs” who have been “making up all kinds of “spy” stories”, it insists the embassy scheme abides by all relevant rules.
Its proposal was rejected by Tower Hamlets Council in 2022, following objections from police and local residents. However, just weeks after Labour won the general election this summer, China lodged a fresh planning application.
The Government quickly called in the embassy proposal, meaning the final decision now falls to Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, through her role as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Starmer revealed last month that Xi Jinping had lobbied him personally, while discussing the issue with the Chinese President at a G20 summit in Rio last month.
In remarks broadcast by the world’s media, the Prime Minister stated that Xi had raised the matter with him by phone, reassuring him: “We have since taken action by calling in that application. Now we have to follow the legal process and timeline.”
Critics accuse Starmer of pandering to the Chinese by considering the contentious embassy plans while pursuing improved business relations with the authoritarian state.
The former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith lambasted Starmer, saying: “America would never allow this to happen, and I don’t think any of our other allies would either.”
“We’re very close to the US and share intelligence with them at a level which no other ally does,” he added. “The Americans’ reliance on GCHQ and our listening devices in the Middle East through gives us a very close relationship with the US, so we are a very important target for the Chinese.”
Size matters
At 700,000 sq ft, China’s proposed embassy complex would be far larger than the 12-storey US embassy which opened in 2017, which contains 518,000 sq ft of floor space and cost £750m to build. The complex would be nearly three times larger than the MI6 headquarters in Vauxhall, which has an area of 250,000 sq ft – and more than seven times bigger than the Metropolitan Police’s New Scotland Yard in Westminster, which covers 93,000 sq ft. China had 124 diplomatic staff in the UK registered with the Foreign Office last year, official documents show, while the US had 215. Given that the new Chinese site would be significantly larger than the American embassy, it seems possible that Beijing’s diplomatic contingent in London could double and outstrip the US. The huge scale of the proposed new Chinese Embassy on the existing Royal Mint Court site is shown by a photo in the formal planning documents, left, which also contains illustrations of the embassy design, right (Images: Chinese Embassy UK / David Chipperfield Architects / DP9 / Tower Hamlets Council)Espionage concerns
Duncan Smith’s concerns about the embassy are shared by Martijn Rasser, who served as a senior intelligence analyst at the CIA during an 11-year career at the American spy agency.
Giving the go-ahead would “raise a lot of questions” about “Britain’s ability to protect the secrets that the US government is entrusting the UK government with,” he argued.
He fears this could include intelligence on allied weapons systems or what governments are doing and saying behind the scenes.
Rasser accepts that all embassies around the world help and host intelligence operatives. But he believes that allowing Beijing such a huge new base, with tailor-made facilities for “significant signals-intelligence collection capability,” would be a mistake.
“Because this would be essentially from the ground up a whole new facility, I would expect the equipment to be the latest and greatest,” said Rasser, who left the CIA in 2015 and now works for a private intelligence company focusing on China. “You can optimise the design of certain parts of the building to enhance your collection capabilities.”
He added: “The UK plays a very special role through the Five Eyes partnership, and the bilateral relationship [with the US] is also very important and very strong. This would cause a lot of concern in Washington about Britain’s reliability as an intelligence partner.”
The site for the proposed new Chinese embassy, seen in the top left corner of this photo, is a short distance from world-famous tourist attractions and situated next to one of central London’s busiest road junctions (Photo: Michael Dunning / Getty Images / The Image Bank RF)Beyond this, he believes the symbolism could cause diplomatic tensions with Washington, especially given that Donald Trump – who becomes US President next month – has such hawkish views on China.
Trump may spark a trade war if he follows through on threats to impose trade tariffs of 60 per cent. Senior US intelligence sources warned in interviews with The i Paper last month that Trump may threaten to withhold intelligence information from the UK if the British Government does not side with him on important matters.
“The reaction here in the US would be very negative if China were allowed to proceed with their super embassy plans,” said Rasser.
“This would be the largest embassy of any nation in Europe – significantly larger than the US Embassy in London. What message does that send to Washington if London were to allow that?”
Sir Mark Lyall Grant, who served as national security adviser for both David Cameron and Theresa May, sought to dampen concerns. “Size of embassy does not directly equate to increased threat,” he said.
But Craig Singleton, who served in several national security roles during a decade as a US diplomat, feels the embassy plans will alarm the White House.
Former CIA officer Martijn Rasser, left, and former US diplomat Craig Singleton, right, believe Donald Trump could take action if the UK allows China to open its proposed “super embassy” (Photos: Martijn Rasser / Foundation for Defense of Democracies)“The significant physical size of the new London embassy raises reasonable questions about its purpose and function,” he said. “It’s critical to closely scrutinise both the construction process and the staff operating from the complex, as it’s almost certain that Chinese intelligence personnel will be among them.”
Singleton, now a China expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies research institute, added: “Intelligence agencies are likely to assess the implications for national and allied security carefully… If the UK moves forward, the US might explore mitigative measures – publicly or privately.”
Duncan Smith believes China wants to use the site to “steal secrets” because it “views the UK as a soft underbelly of Five Eyes,” referring to the UK’s intelligence alliance with the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
“This is a perfect location if you want access to anything and anyone.” Arguing that China is “notorious” for carrying out corporate espionage, he said: “It’s suspiciously close to the City.”
After Starmer’s “grovelling” behaviour with Xi, he worries the Government will agree to the embassy project in a diplomatic “stitch up”.
Government officials underline privately that it is standard for any application affecting national security to be called in and this should not be taken as any indication of views on the merits of the scheme.
Chinese spying warnings
A businessman who gained an “unusual degree of trust” with Prince Andrew while allegedly spying for China was named as Yang Tengbo on Monday. He attempted to use his links to the Duke of York as leverage for Beijing, a judgement by the national security court disclosed last week. Also known as Chris Yang, he’s been banned from the UK but insists he’s “done nothing wrong or unlawful”, and that the “widespread description of me as a ‘spy’ is entirely untrue”. A former parliamentary researcher will go on trial next year accused of spying for China. Christopher Cash has been charged under the Official Secrets Act. He and another man, Christopher Berry, have both pleaded not guilty. The leaders of MI6 and the CIA warned in a joint article this year: “The rise of China is the principal intelligence and geopolitical challenge of the 21st century.” MI6 chief Sir Richard Moore, known as “C,” has also cautioned that China is “hoovering up” vast quantities of information abroad using AI. “The Chinese authorities are not hugely troubled by questions of personal privacy, or individual data security,” he said in July. “They’re focused on controlling information.” However, he asserted it was essential for the UK to “engage with China”, because “not a single international problem of any importance can be addressed if we do not.” The MI5 chief Ken McCullum revealed last year that more than 20,000 people in the UK had been secretly contacted online by Chinese spies through platforms such as LinkedIn. Beijing was conducting “a sustained campaign on a pretty epic scale,” he said. Former parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash, left, denies spying for Beijing, while an alleged Chinese spy has been banned from the UK after allegedly trying to exploit links to Prince Andrew (Photos: Getty Images)Political controversy
Tower Hamlets councillors symbolically opposed the deal in another vote last week, after it emerged that the local authority had received about 200 submissions in support of the new embassy.
Freedom of Information requests by Duncan Smith show that 73 of these were notes written by people attending an exhibition at the site in September, where they were reportedly given “goodie bags,” while another 32 were identical letters.
Seven came from individuals linked to Chinese state-owned businesses including the Bank of China, Air China and a subsidiary of the China General Nuclear Power Group.
A cross-party group of 13 MPs and peers have written to Rayner accusing Beijing of “interference” in a planning consultation by Tower Hamlets Council.
The “troubling” findings point to an “orchestrated campaign,” according to the letter. It was signed by Labour MP Sarah Champion, Chris Law of the SNP, Alistair Carmichael of the Liberal Democrats, the crossbench Baroness D’Souza, among others.
“Last time around, nobody was in favour,” said Duncan Smith. “Suddenly they’ve got a whole load of people this time. They’re not residents, they’re just people that have been drummed up to write in support of the application.”
Now the planning application has been called in, the decision is now out of the local authority’s hands.
It will be assessed by an appointed expert from the Planning Inspectorate early next year. The final decision will then fall to Rayner and her team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told China’s President Xi Jinping that his government had “taken action” over the embassy plans, when the pair met in Brazil last month (Photo: Stefan Rousseau – WPA Pool / Getty Images / Press Association)A former top MI6 officer, who wished to remain anonymous, acknowledged that China’s current embassy in Marylebone is “completely not fit for purpose and they do need new premises”.
“It’s very difficult to say no to China building a new embassy, because the justification for it is there,” they said. They hope that the British “play fairly hard ball” to secure a mutual agreement for a new embassy of their own in Beijing.
“Where it should go is another matter altogether,” they argued. The main concern for the British authorities should be “location, location, location,” to ensure that it does not make important assets more vulnerable to spying.
“It’s fairly common for the major players to locate certain kinds of collection equipment within embassies, which will be normally targeted at very specific buildings or organisations,” they explained.
The ex-spy also questioned the Chinese motives of wanting such a big embassy in London rather than in Brussels or Berlin. “How much more diplomatic business is there for them to do with the British government than there is with the European Union?”
But they added: “You can’t ignore a country that accounts for a fifth of the world’s population and about the same proportion of global economic activity. You’ve got to deal with it on a pragmatic basis.
“It makes sense to try and ensure that you’ve got the best possible relationship that circumstances will permit. That said, it’s going to be pretty difficult to have the sort of relationship with China that China would actually want.”
MI6 chief Richard Moore, left, and CIA director Bill Burns, right, warned this year about Chinese spying efforts (Photo: Em Fitzgerald / Pool via REUTERS)The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government did not comment about concerns held by the security veterans’ concerns and Duncan Smith. A spokesperson merely confirmed that ministers will decide on the planning application and that “a final decision will be made in due course.”
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy also did not comment on the interviewees’ concerns. But following the Prince Andrew court revelation, they published a statement condemning attempts to “smear China” with spying claims, calling for people to “stop spreading the “China threat” narrative”.
Following the Tower Hamlets Council vote against the embassy plans last week, they said: “Host countries have the international obligation to ...
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