The Chinese Communist Party is attempting to construct a “super embassy” in the heart of London, and the British government is set to decide in December whether it will allow China to go through with its plan.
The “super embassy” would be located on the site of the Royal Mint Court, an important strategic site in central London, and become China’s largest European embassy in Europe if completed. The Trump administration and U.S. lawmakers are opposed to the embassy because of economic and national security concerns in Europe and elsewhere.
A group of Republican House lawmakers is sending a letter Monday to British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper urging the United Kingdom to deny China the ability to build the “super embassy” in London, National Review has learned.
“We share the Trump administration's apprehensions regarding the potential establishment of the Chinese super-embassy that would be the PRC's largest embassy in Europe,” the letter reads.
“Accordingly, we write to urge the denial of the proposed construction and encourage full consideration of the ramifications of allowing such a development to proceed unchecked, including how it may impact our shared economic and security interests and broader transatlantic efforts to counter malign authoritarian influence in the region and elsewhere.”
Representative Brian Mast (R., Fla.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Representative John Moolenaar (R., Mich.), chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and Representatives Keith Self (R., Texas) and Young Kim (R., Calif.) signed the letter.
“The U.K. should be under no illusion that China is their friend. This is the same regime that hacked the U.K. election system, flooded Parliament with spies, infiltrated dozens of British universities and stole intellectual property from European companies,” Mast said.
“The U.K. government should not reward the CCP with a crown jewel embassy in London. Doing so would further embolden Beijing and raise even more serious security concerns. This is about allies standing together against China's oppressive regime.”
After several delays, the British government has scheduled its decision on the Chinese facility for December 10. China’s reinvigorated its push to develop the embassy after Labour election victory last year and the ascendance of British prime minster Keir Starmer. Former Tory prime minster Boris Johnson first approved the project in 2018, but it faced significant backlash in the following years.
“The U.K. must not reward the Chinese Communist Party with greater diplomatic influence while it continues to engage in repressive actions against its own people and against those who dare to speak out,” Moolenaar said.
“This is a matter of international security and the protection of democratic values. Allowing the CCP to expand its influence in the heart of our closest ally only emboldens its malign efforts and poses serious risks to global security, democratic institutions, and economic stability.”
The lawmakers voiced displeasure with the U.K. government because its intelligence agencies reportedly withheld security concerns from their reviews of the “super embassy” as to not anger Beijing.
“The Chinese Communist Party's efforts to build its largest embassy in Europe—right in the heart of London's financial district—should raise red flags for all who value transparency, sovereignty, and security,” Kim said.
“The CCP has a long track record of exploiting diplomatic and economic access for espionage and coercion. I urge our U.K. allies to stand firm against this attempt to expand Beijing's influence and continue to protect our shared national security interests.”
Ken McCallum, head of M15, Britain’s domestic intelligence agency warned last month about the security threat China poses to the U.K. after the British government’s attempt to prosecute two men for spying for China collapsed because the British government refused to assert definitively that China posed a threat to its national security. The spying controversy brought Chinese espionage to the forefront of British politics and prompted Starmer to release court documents detailing the allegations against a British teacher and parliamentary researcher.
In the U.S. The FBI has issued stark warnings about China’s aggressive cyberespionage activities and industrial-scale intellectual property theft.
“The attempted construction of a People's Republic of China ‘super embassy’ is an economic and security threat not only to the United Kingdom, but the United States,” Self said.
“As a fellow Five Eyes intelligence partner, I am urging our allies in London to refuse this embassy construction at once. The UK cannot afford to bend the knee to the PRC.”
At the start of the Trump administration, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his British counterpart, then-Foreign Secretary David Lammy, affirmed the critical importance of the U.S.-U.K. relationship in addressing issues including malign Chinese influence, the State Department said in January.
The GOP lawmakers noted Rubio and Lammy’s discussion in their letter to highlight the importance of U.S. and U.K. alignment on taking all measures necessary to tackle Chinese influence operations.
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