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The White Home has expressed concern to the UK authorities over permitting China to construct a big embassy in London that safety officers consider would pose a danger to delicate communications infrastructure serving the Metropolis.
“America is deeply involved about offering China with potential entry to the delicate communications of one in all our closest allies,” mentioned a senior US official.
China has requested permission to construct a brand new embassy in London at Royal Mint Courtroom on the sting of the Metropolis of London, the monetary district of the UK capital. The 20,000 sq m compound can be greater than 20 instances the scale of Beijing’s present embassy in Marylebone and can be Beijing’s largest embassy in Europe.
Some US and UK safety officers have additionally raised concern in regards to the plan due to the location’s proximity to a delicate hub of essential communications cables.
Sir Richard Dearlove, former head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, advised the I Paper on Sunday that the presence of cable networks close to the proposed embassy posed a “actual downside” as a result of Chinese language intelligence companies would be capable to faucet into delicate communication traces “with impunity”.
The American official mentioned Washington anticipated that every one choices can be taken with US and UK nationwide safety pursuits in thoughts and “after thorough mitigation as really helpful and authorized by counter-intelligence professionals”.
The UK belongs to the 5 Eyes intelligence-sharing and assortment community that additionally consists of the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand — which suggests threats to British communications are a priority to Washington.
The White Home intervention marks the second identified instance of the Trump administration elevating considerations about China with the UK. Earlier this yr, President Donald Trump gave his tacit approval to a deal the UK signed with Mauritius over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands. This was regardless of perceived Chinese language safety threats to Diego Garcia, an atoll within the islands on which the US and UK have a joint army base. He authorized the deal regardless of considerations expressed by a few of his officers.
Within the UK, the opposition Conservative celebration has urged the Labour authorities to reject the plan.
Chris Philp, shadow house secretary, mentioned the location — which Beijing purchased in 2018 — was a “safety danger” for the federal government given its proximity to a few knowledge centres near Canary Wharf and the Metropolis’s Sq. Mile.
“It is vitally doubtless the Chinese language would use it to organise espionage actions. We see the Chinese language authorities cracking down on dissidents, working secret police stations within the UK, even placing bounties on the heads of dissidents, a few of whom I’ve met. We shouldn’t be giving permission to this,” he mentioned on Sunday.
Peter Kyle, the science and expertise secretary, mentioned that, if folks raised safety points, this is able to be handled within the planning course of.
The plan was refused by the native Tower Hamlets borough council in 2022 on safety grounds and due to the potential influence on residents. Final yr it was referred to as in for evaluation by Angela Rayner, housing secretary.
The challenge has now been revived after private strain from President Xi Jinping of China in a cellphone name with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Chinese language international minister Wang Yi additionally raised the difficulty with international secretary David Lammy throughout a go to to London this yr.
Some UK officers consider that approving the embassy might soothe UK-China relations which have frayed because the British authorities seized management of a Chinese language-owned metal plant in north-east England.
The British embassy in Washington declined to remark. The US intervention was first reported by the Sunday Instances of London.
