Plans for a new Chinese ‘super embassy’ in London would include on-site accommodation for more than 200 intelligence officers, it has been revealed.
News of the proposed ‘spy campus’ has added fresh controversy to China’s redevelopment bid for the historic Royal Mint buildings near the Tower of London.
Downing Street is considering the plans — previously shelved by the last government — following personal lobbying by Chinese President Xi Jinping, The Mail on Sunday reports.
A source said: “There will effectively be a student-style campus for spies in the heart of the City.And those spy dungeons are so deep that the sensitive cables are virtually at head height.”
A “cultural exchange” area within the embassy plans is reportedly exempt from UK inspection and verification. A security source told the Mail on Sunday the term is a “euphemism for intelligence and security services”.
They added: “It’s where they often stuff their security and intelligence staff, among other diplomats. And if it’s a ‘cultural’ centre/space, why do they always declare it off limits in planning documents?”
Former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith warned: “Everywhere there is a mega embassy... Chinese state-sponsored, trans-national repression of those who have fled the Chinese state or who criticise it grows dramatically.”
Planning documents for the proposed embassy site reveal “two suites of anonymous unlabelled basement rooms and a tunnel,” with their intended purpose redacted “for security reasons”.
A 12-day public inquiry into the plans took place in February. A report by the Planning Inspectorate — an executive agency of the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government — is now believed to recommend approval.
Tower Hamlets Council originally rejected the application in 2022. However, the case was later called in by then-deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner, who used her ministerial powers to take the final decision away from the local authority.
Even if approved, the project may still face a Judicial Review, as opposition remains fierce.
The Royal Mint Court Residents Association, which represents residents and businesses near the proposed embassy, said: “This has been a David versus Goliath battle since the beginning, and we are not giving up now. Most of us fully expected this outcome, and we are now crowdfunding a legal challenge.”
Opposition has also come from overseas. Both the White House and the Dutch government have warned against allowing China to build an embassy so close to major financial and political centres.
In May, a senior US official said: “The United States is deeply concerned about providing China with potential access to the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.”
China purchased the Royal Mint site in 2018 and has been seeking to redevelop it ever since. Former Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi is understood to have raised the issue with Foreign Secretary David Lammy during his visit to London in January.
