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The UK has approved China’s application to build a “mega” embassy in London despite fierce opposition and concerns over espionage, after security officials said they had devised a range of protective measures.
Tuesday’s announcement ends months of wrangling but comes at a difficult time for the government as US President Donald Trump threatens Greenland and criticises Britain’s approach to a range of foreign policy issues.
The proposed embassy has become a flashpoint in UK-China relations in recent months, just as Sir Keir Starmer seeks to nurture stronger trade ties with Beijing and prepares to become the first British prime minister to visit China in eight years.
Beijing has complained of delays to the decision by the government, while critics have warned that the building on the former site of the Royal Mint could serve as a spying hub, in part because sensitive data cables run nearby from the City of London.
The White House raised concerns over the proposed embassy’s proximity to the cables last summer, according to a senior US official. The concerns were compounded by China’s redacted drawings of part of the plans for the building, which will be the country’s largest embassy in Europe.
But communities secretary Steve Reed said in the decision, announced on the final day possible under planning rules, that the Home Office and Foreign Office had not raised concerns about the cables, and neither had their owners and operators.
“In light of the above, he does not consider that the generalised concerns which have been raised about these cables are a reason to refuse planning permission, or that this matter weighs against the proposal,” the planning approval stated.
Any concerns over “unlawful or improper activity by a foreign state” could be addressed under existing laws, it said, adding: “There is no suggestion that the operational development permitted by any grant of planning permission would interfere with the cables, nor that a lawful embassy use of the site would give rise to any such interference.”
Reed also noted that China had submitted 43 revised drawings of the 52 originally marked as redacted, but placed a restriction on certain rooms not being allowed for “overnight accommodation”.
Some critics of the site have warned of the risk to Chinese dissidents based in London, including potential detention, particularly for the large number of people from Hong Kong who have come to the UK in recent years as Beijing asserts its control over the city-state.
In a joint letter Sir Ken McCallum, MI5’s director-general, and GCHQ’s director Anne Keast-Butler said it was “not realistic to expect to be able wholly to eliminate each and every potential risk” but added that the “package of national security mitigations for the site has been, in our view, expert, professional and proportionate”.
Security officials have argued that one large site is easier for them to monitor than China’s current set-up of seven different diplomatic sites spread across the British capital.
In a written ministerial statement, the government said that “the decision was in line with the recommendation of the independent planning inspector” and emphasised that it had followed a “quasi-judicial process”.
“This means they must make decisions fairly, based on evidence and planning rules,” it said.
But Sir James Cleverly, Conservative shadow communities secretary, described the decision as a “disgraceful act of cowardice from a Labour government . . . utterly devoid of backbone” and said it pointed to Starmer’s “desperate desire for Beijing’s approval”.
Officials privately acknowledge that the UK has long wanted to rebuild its own embassy in Beijing but is unlikely to receive approval for the project from the Chinese government without authorising the embassy in London.
The proposed diplomatic complex is located close to the Tower of London on a site that was purchased by China for £255mn in 2018.
Seema Malhotra, a Foreign Office minister, told the House of Commons on Monday that UK security and intelligence agencies had “been involved throughout” the decision-making process and “a range of measures have been developed and are being implemented to protect national security”.
She did not provide further details of the measures.
The approval of the embassy clears the way for Starmer to travel to Beijing next week.
Baroness Theresa May, former Conservative prime minister, was the last UK leader to visit China in 2018 and Starmer wants to build economic relations, including on financial services, with the country.
“We won’t announce the visit” on Tuesday, said one British official, adding that the government hoped to “decouple” approval of the embassy from Starmer’s trip, expected at the end of next week.