Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has demanded additional information from China over its plans for a new “mega” embassy in London after several of the drawings contained areas that were blacked out.
A letter sent by Rayner’s housing department to the embassy said it must provide unredacted drawings of the plans or “identify precisely and comprehensively” the parts that have been withheld, and “explain the rationale and justification” for the blacked-out sections.
The letter, sent on Wed Aug 6, gives the embassy just two weeks to respond, saying a full decision by the government on China’s planning application for the site must be made by Sep 9. The late objection raises the prospect that ministers may reject the plans, which have been criticised by the White House.
The letter stated that two buildings on the drawings — the Cultural Exchange Building and Embassy House — have been “greyed out”.
These “are marked on their face as being ‘redacted for security reasons’, and it appears this may refer, at least principally, to the internal physical arrangements”, it added. Other buildings are also marked as being at least partly redacted.
The letter also flags that the Home Office has requested a “hard perimeter” around the embassy site that could represent “a material amendment to the [planning] application that would require further consultation”.
It added “consideration of this case is at an early stage, and no view has yet been formed”.
The embassy that China is planning would be opposite the Tower of London and the largest in Europe, sitting on a 5-acre site, with critics warning that the mega embassy would inevitably be home to more spies and could be used to harass Chinese dissidents.
In late June, the White House expressed “deep concern” over the project, warning that the site’s location on the edge of the City of London means it sits over a host of vital communications cables, including some used by US banks. MPs in the Netherlands have raised similar concerns to the US.
The Royal Mint Court site was sold to China in 2018 for £255M, having been disposed of by the Crown Estate to property developers in 2010 despite centuries of history.
“Either the government has finally seen the light and is finding reasons to refuse this disastrous plan, or trying to look tough and has struck a deal with Beijing … If the former, this is hugely welcome and a massive volte-face.”
The government called in the planning application last year, moving decision-making from local to central government, after Tower Hamlets council raised security concerns. China has in the past accused “anti-China forces” of attacking the embassy planning process.
Earlier this month, campaigners against the embassy expressed concern that an announcement approving the project could be made over the summer, when parliament is in recess.
“It is clear that this embassy will be used as a spy hub. Vital information on its sinister use has been hidden by the Chinese government . . . National security is under threat and Labour ministers have put their heads in the sand.”
https://ft.com/content/216a74ba-08f0-40f3-ad24-409e16646217…
Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has demanded additional information from China over its plans for a new “mega” 
embassy in London after several of the drawings contained areas that were blacked out.
A letter sent by Rayner’s housing department to the 