Controversial plans for a Chinese embassy in central London reportedly include an underground network of 208 secret rooms. Housing and Communities Secretary Steve Reed is due to decide whether Beijing’s proposed designs for Royal Mint Court opposite the Tower of London can go ahead by January 20.
Despite a number of MPs raising concerns around security risks, the Government is expected to approve the plans ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to China later this month. The plans which have been made public are heavily redacted.
However, according to The Telegraph they show plans for an underground complex under the site, with a single, hidden chamber located near fibre-optic cables carrying financial data to the City of London and data of millions of internet users.
Other disclosures reported by the same publication, including the rebuilding of an outer basement wall directly opposite the cables, have sparked fears China could be looking to spy on the information carried by the cables.
Security expert, Professor Alan Woodward, from the University of Surrey, said while the basement could be for legitimate classified communications equipment, that can “hide a multitude of sins”.
He said demolition of the basement wall was a “red flag” and described the fibre-optic cables as “an enormous temptation” for foreign intelligence services.
Nevertheless, the Labour Government insists the Chinese embassy plans are a planning decision for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Former security minister Tom Tugendhat told Parliament in December asked whether the siting of an embassy is the mere duty of a bureaucrat.
He said: “It’s not. It’s the role of a Government to offer leadership and direction, and I’m afraid the moment this government is offering none.”
Meanwhile, nine Labour MPs urged the Government in a letter to reject the plans, claiming it raises security concerns and would be used to ramp up intimidation against Chinese dissidents.
In their letter, seen by the BBC, the MPs write that “an embassy of this size, in such a strategic position, would be used to step up intimidation against diaspora and dissidents”.
They warn: “Should this application be approved, we would feel unable to reassure our constituents that we are doing everything possible to protect them on British soil”.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government insisted redactions are standard practice in planning appeals.
