Will Medieval Cistercian monks save us from the Chinese mega-embassy? Yesterday’s mega-embassy letter from the government was very significant, but easy to miss why.
On 14 January, the Foreign and Home Secretaries wrote to the Planning Inspector about the mega-embassy. They offered conditional support, but asked for some amendments to be made to the Chinese government application. Among other things, the two Secretaries requested that a wall be built around part of the embassy perimeter to enable safe access to the historic ruins (a ruined Cistercian Abbey) on the site. In this letter, the two Secretaries of State said:
“…we request the inclusion of a condition requiring the approval of amended designs stipulating our proposed mitigations. We believe that security should take priority over heritage considerations in this context.”
In February, during the Planning Inquiry hearings, the Chinese side said explicitly that they had no plans to build such a perimeter. This is why yesterday’s letter is important. It makes clear:
a) The UK set conditions.
b) Beijing has refused those conditions.
c) Including a wall at this stage would necessitate a NEW APPLICATION.
A reminder: there is NOTHING in the current application about this hard perimeter wall. Angela Rayner, the Secretary of State, can only approve or deny what is before her. This application cannot be added to now.
To be clear: as things stand, therefore, the mega-embassy cannot be approved, unless the Home Secretary drops the condition about the hard perimeter.
But, if that happens, not only will we have rolled over (again) for Beijing, dropping our very modest negotiating position, we will endanger people.
Because, without the hard perimeter, people visiting the Cistercian Abbey ruins will be on Chinese diplomatic land, which is inviolable under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. This means that Hong Kongers, Uyghurs, and even those sanctioned like me, would be at potential risk if we wanted to visit a site of national historic importance.
We have already seen attempts to drag a Hong Kong protester into the Consulate grounds in Manchester.
We have seen letters sent to bountied Hong Kongers, threatening to capture them and take them to the embassy.
It is unacceptable for to drop this condition. She should stand firm. Historic British sites should be available for people to visit without fear.
