Ministers were urged to reject China’s plan for a mega-embassy in London as its spies stood accused of targeting Parliament in a large-scale espionage operation.
The Conservatives asked the Government to turn down the controversial application for the huge new embassy at Royal Mint Court, Tower Hamlets, which at 20,000 square metres would be the biggest diplomatic mission in Europe.
Concerns have been raised that its location would enable Chinese spies to access underground cables serving the City of London.
If the Government does give approval for the new embassy, the Tories say China should have to pay for the “sensitive” underground cables to be moved away from it.
The row over the embassy erupted again as MI5 warned MPs, peers, Government officials, parliamentary staff, economists, and think tank employees that they could be targeted by Beijing’s spy operation in Britain.
Condemning Beijing’s actions, shadow Home Office minister Alicia Kearns told the Commons: “The decision on the new Chinese embassy is also expected shortly.
“And while we would see that embassy refused, if the Government will not will it at least require the Chinese government to pay for sensitive underground cables to be re-routed away from the embassy.”
Security minister Dan Jarvis said the Government was “moving towards a point of decision” on the Chinese embassy and it would be made by Housing Secretary Steve Reed in a “quasi-judicial capacity”.
He added: “National security has been the core priority throughout that particular process.”
The Standard revealed last month how the Foreign Office and Home Office had dropped demands for some security measures at the proposed new embassy as Beijing has piled pressure on the Government to give it the go-ahead.
China has warned there will be “consequences” if it is blocked.
Former Cabinet Sir Jeremy Wright, who sits on Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, told the Commons that it had not yet received full information on China’s embassy plans for it to carry out its espionage watchdog duties.
Mr Jarvis pledge that this information would be provided to the committee closer to the time of the planning decision.
The ISC has previously raised the alarm over the threat of industrial-scale spying by China on Parliament, the Government, universities, businesses and other parts of Britain.
The Government, like previous Tory administrations, is seeking to build economic ties with China while at the same time guarding against the security threats that it poses.
Mr Jarvis insisted that the Government would not tolerate “covert and calculated” attempts by China to interfere with the UK’s sovereign affairs following MI5’s warning over spying threats.
MPs, peers and parliamentary staff were warned by the security service over suspected Chinese espionage via recruitment head-hunters or other companies.
The minister announced a package of measures to disrupt the threats, and that the Government is launching an “espionage action plan”.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle wrote to parliamentarians on Tuesday to alert them to the “espionage alert” issued by MI5 highlighting how the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) is trying to reach out to those in Westminster.
“Their aim is to collect information and lay the groundwork for long-term relationships, using professional networking sites, recruitment agents and consultants acting on their behalf,” he said.
The alert names two head-hunters, Amanda Qiu (BR-YR Executive Search) and Shirly Shen (Internship Union), who are both known to be using LinkedIn profiles to reach out on behalf of China’s MSS, the alert email said.
The MI5 warning details how the Chinese intelligence service may try to recruit a target.
It said: “The Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) seek to collect sensitive information on the UK to gain strategic advantage.
“Following recent examples of attempts to target UK Parliament for intelligence gathering, this espionage alert seeks to highlight typical MSS tradecraft and methodology from a specific group of highly active officers.”
It warns that officers target political and economic information, particularly that which is classified or sensitive in nature.
People with direct access to information on the UK democratic system are high priority targets for the MSS.
Earlier this year, a court case against parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash and academic Christopher Berry, accused of spying for China, collapsed after the Government and Crown Prosecution Service were at odds over the security threat posed by Beijing.
The two men both deny wrongdoing.
