A decision on China’s new mega embassy next to the Tower of London has been delayed to December amid growing concerns that China is interfering with British democracy by spying on MPs and stealing classified information.
The application for the new embassy at the Royal Mint Court site was set to be finalised as early as next week but the decision has been pushed back to early December.
Housing secretary Steve Reed, who is now charged with overseeing the application after taking over from Angela Rayner last month, reportedly believes the government needs more time to assess whether to green-light the embassy.
The delay comes in the middle of an ongoing row over the collapse of a Chinese spy case and concerns over the security threats the country poses, with a fresh diplomatic row set to leave Labour officials on edge in the coming months.
On Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy warned the UK government to “stop undermining relations” after the government released witness statements provided to the Crown Prosecution Service before the spy case was dropped.
The statements by deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins labelled China as a “threat” but also pointed to the UK government’s ambition to maintain a “positive” relationship with the country.
“The so-called testimony released by the UK after the prosecutor’s withdrawal of the case is filled with all kinds of groundless accusations against China. It is pure speculation and fabrication. We strongly condemn it,” the Chinese embassy said in a statement.
“British politicians’ attempts to smear and defame China will never succeed.”
It urged “relevant parties in the UK” to “stop undermining China-UK relations”.
Security chief ‘frustrated’ by China spy case
In a speech on Thursday, MI5 boss Ken McCallum warned state threats were as bad or worse than the threat of terrorism.
McCallum said he was also “frustrated” by the collapse of the China spy case involving Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, who have both denied all allegations, with the Labour government facing intense scrutiny over how it dealt with evidence provided to the Crown Prosecution Service.
“The UK-China relationship is by its nature complex, but MI5’s role is not,” McCallum said.
“We detect and deal, robustly, with activity threatening UK national security.”
China’s application process for a new £750m embassy has now lasted several years, with the country having hoped to make an advance under Labour.
The stand-off has been in part due to security concerns, with telecoms experts warning the location could present unique risks due to an underground network of high-capacity fibre-optic cables that connect key financial firms across the City of London.
Professor Sophia Economides, head of engineering at Northeastern University London, told City AM that while she could not confirm the site was unsafe, the location “raises legitimate technical concerns”.
“There are fibre-optic cables that go under the site… it’s very easy to tap into those cables, it’s very easy to see what’s happening – and it won’t be detected”, she said.
The government is still facing questions on whether it could have beefed up evidence before the CPS dropped the Chinese spy case while concerns have also been raised about the extent to which China stole classified material from the UK during Boris Johnson’s premiership.
Dominic Cummings, who was a senior adviser to Johnson, alleged that a Whitehall data breach led to sensitive information being leaked to China.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “It is untrue to claim that the systems we use to transfer the most sensitive government information have been compromised.”
There was no denial that China had obtained years’ worth of classified material through independent portals civil servants and government services use.