During his visit, however, Beijing criticized further delays to a planning decision for its proposed mega-embassy in London, which had been imminent but has been pushed back to Dec 10. Beijing has been trying to redevelop the former Royal Mint buildings since it bought the site in 2018.
The project is highly controversial amid warnings that China could use the embassy as a base for espionage and it is being built above sensitive cabling linked to financial centres in London.
According to a well-placed source, Zheng Zeguang, the Chinese ambassador, told senior Foreign 0ffice officials in Dec 2022, days after Tower Hamlets council had refused planning permission for the new embassy, that China would not resubmit its application unless it was given assurances that it would be approved.
After Robbins and Chinese officials met in Beijing, Lin Jian, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, told a news conference that the UK had shown “disregard for contractual spirit, acting in bad faith and without integrity”.
He said China had acted with “the utmost sincerity and patience” and the UK should “immediately fulfil its obligations and honour its commitments otherwise the British side shall bear all consequences”.
Lin’s comments will only fuel suspicion that Labour agreed a private deal with China over its mega-embassy. A senior Whitehall source said: “When you look at what has happened with the embassy and the espionage case, it is hard to draw any other conclusion than it is both cock-up and conspiracy.”
4/n