The new 
super-embassy at Royal Mint Court, close to the Tower of London, has been recommended for approval by the Planning Inspectorate, a decision expected to be waved through by the housing secretary, Angela Rayner, within weeks.
Security concerns were raised about the planned complex because of its proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables which could be susceptible to attack. Mapping data shows the proposed site lies directly between the twin financial centers in the City and Canary Wharf, and close to three important data centers.
A spokesman for Royal Mint Court Residents Association, which represents the people who live or work in properties next to the proposed embassy: “This has been a David versus Goliath battle since the beginning, and we are not giving up now. Most of us fully expected this outcome, and we are now crowdfunding a legal challenge.”
Earlier this month the White House warned Downing Street against allowing a embassy to be built near sensitive financial centers in London. The concerns were echoed by the Dutch parliament.
A senior US official: “The United States is deeply concerned about providing China with potential access to the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.”
It is understood that President Trump has previously urged Sir Keir Starmer to deny permission for the super-embassy and the issue has been raised in the trade negotiations between the two countries. Diplomats say the president’s administration would have reservations about sharing intelligence with the UK if the embassy opened.
A memo was passed to the 
National Security Council by members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac) claiming that the “dark cabling” under the embassy site “feeds the City of London”, the heart of UK financial services. It also claimed that the Bank of England threat team had warned about the “associated risks”.
Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party: “The government should block this request from China, a state the prime minister himself describes as an ‘adversary’ and which the head of MI5 has said is conducting espionage on an ‘epic scale’ against the UK. The vast embassy site is several times bigger than the Royal Albert Hall.”
Beijing has been trying to redevelop the former Royal Mint buildings since it bought the site in 2018. It is understood Foreign Minister Wang Yi raised the issue with 
foreign secretary David Lammy during a visit to London in January. Xi Jinping had earlier done the same in a call with Starmer.
The planning decision for the embassy was called in by Rayner last year, which means she exercised her power to take over the decision from the local authority. The plan was initially refused by Tower Hamlets council in 2022.
Within a fortnight of Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, returning from an official visit to China earlier this year, both Scotland Yard and Tower Hamlets council dropped their objections to the project.
Luke de Pulford, executive director of Ipac: “This will come as a surprise to nobody, but a crushing disappointment to many, including — and perhaps most especially — the security services. It has felt for some time that this outcome was preordained. The whole thing reeks of diplomatic duress and capitulation.”
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Byron Wan
@Byron_Wan
Shadow Housing Secretary Kevin Hollinrake has written to the Cabinet Secretary demanding China’s bid to build a mega-embassy in London be halted and restarted from scratch.
His explosive letter points to a string of evasive answers to parliamentary questions, a “call-in” of x.com/byron_wan/stat…