Chinese bid for ‘super embassy’ rejected

Residents and human rights campaigners sway decision to reject plan for heart of London

A Chinese bid for a “super embassy” on the site of the old Royal Mint near Tower Bridge was blocked last night amid fierce opposition and a growing political rift between Westminster and Beijing. Tower Hamlets council unanimously voted to reject planning permission for the multi-million-pound development in central London, despite advisers recommending it go ahead. At the hearing, residents voiced fears the embassy would put them at “heightened risk” of terrorist attack.

‘Don’t think for one second that they wouldn’t dig 30ft down to create a vault to keep their secrets’

A CHINESE bid for a “super embassy” on the site of the old Royal Mint near Tower Bridge was blocked last night amid fierce opposition and a growing political rift between Westminster and Beijing.

In a decision late last night, Tower Hamlets council unanimously voted to reject planning permission for the new multimillion-pound development in the heart of central London, despite advisers recommending the new hub be given the go ahead.

The decision will pile more pressure on Sadiq Khan. the Mayor of London, and Michael Gove, the Housing Secretary, who have a six-week challenge period in which they could decide to call in the verdict. Any public inquiry could take up to 18 months to resolve.

The decision comes in the same week that Rishi Sunak declared that the “golden era” of good relations with Beijing was over and against a backdrop of the largest pro-democracy protests in China since Tiananmen Square.

Beijing’s new “super embassy” in London would be the largest of its kind in Europe.

The 700,000 sq ft site was acquired by China for more than £255m in 2018, covering multiple buildings on a plot of land just a short walk from Tower Bridge. Beijing’s planned presence there would be 10 times the size of its current embassy in Marylebone.

The development has stirred up huge controversy because of concerns about China’s human rights record, the historical nature of the site and the impact of such a massive development on local residents.

“I fear a diplomatic incident will occur because the powers available to the Chinese government are far-reaching and excessive,” said David Lake, head of a local residents’ association.

Pro-democracy protesters were beaten outside the Chinese consulate in Manchester in October by men who appeared to emerge from the building.

This incident was raised by opponents of the “super embassy” development at the planning stage, as well as concerns that the building could become a “secretpolice station”. The Chinese state dismissed both objections as “non-material” in its applications.

In the past week, protests have erupted across China as the country’s residents rebelled against President Xi Jinping’s draconian lockdown rules.

During these protests, a BBC presenter was beaten up by police and subsequently jailed. Mr Sunak branded the incident “shocking and unacceptable”. Zhao Lijan, deputy director of China’s ministry of foreign affairs, accused Britain of “hypocritical practice of double standards” and said there had been “a serious distortion of the facts”.

Growing tensions between Britain and China make the “super embassy” decision highly politically sensitive.

A decade ago, David Cameron and George Osborne’s government welcomed Chinese investment and cultivated closer contacts with Beijing.

However, the Johnson and Sunak administrations have reversed this approach, stripping out Chinese technology from Britain’s 5G network and expelling Chinese investment from our nuclear and semiconductor industries.

In the first major foreign policy speech of his premiership, Mr Sunak this week said closer economic ties with China had been “naive” and promised a new approach of “robust pragmatism”. China has argued that foreign policy relations are not a planning matter and should be overlooked by Tower Hamlets councillors.mr Lake is unconvinced. He led pro tests outside the Mint on Wednesday evening in a last-ditch attempt to convince councillors to reject the planning application.

As well as security concerns, residents are unhappy about the day-to-day impact of having a huge embassy on their doorstep. Murray and Dexter House in the complex will have lodgings for around 250 embassy staff, as well as a “cultural exchange” space.

Elsewhere, the Seaman’s Registry will house office space, while the grade II listed John Smirke building, where the old Royal Mint was located, will be turned into a conference and event space, which will host banquets and provide an “outward public interface for the new embassy”.

Yuzi Xia, an official of the Chinese embassy in the UK, has sought to bring locals onside by promising to boost the local economy.

In a letter to residents outlining the move, he wrote: “The current Royal Mint Court Estate offers nothing to the local economy … We want to bring new footfall and spending.”

Concerns have also been raised about the historical nature of the site itself.

“This site should never have been sold to a foreign government,” said Peter Golds, a Conservative councillor for Tower Hamlets. The 200-year-old grade II listed Royal Mint was where Britain’s coins were produced from 1809 until the early 1970s. The Mint itself was built on the foundations of a 14th Cistercian Abbey, the remnants of which are still partially visible in the basement.

Mr Golds said housing a Chinese embassy there was “inappropriate” because it would hand control of a British heritage site to a foreign government, potentially jeopardising historical artefacts. “Don’t think for one second that they wouldn’t dig 30ft down to create a vault to keep their secrets,” he says.

For its part, China has promised that “archaeological discoveries from the Royal Mint Court, whether structural or portable, should be exhibited on site, for the benefit of the public”.

The Mint is also adjacent to the Tower of London, a world heritage site and a huge tourist site.

“What message does it send out?” Golds says. “Can you imagine the French government permitting the development of a huge embassy adjacent to the Arc de Triomphe.”

At last night’s hearing on the final decision, residents voiced fears that the embassy would put them at “heightened risk” of terrorist attack.