Hundreds protest in London against proposed ‘mega embassy’ for China

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Hundreds protest in

London against proposed

‘mega embassy’ for China

AFP

-09 Feb 2025, 05:42 AM

The proposed building has sparked fierce opposition from nearby residents, rights groups, critics of China’s ruling Communist Party and others.

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Police officers take away a protester who was attempting to block the road during a gathering at the site of the proposed new Chinese embassy in London on Saturday. (AFP pic)

LONDON: 

Hundreds of demonstrators protested on Saturday at a site earmarked for Beijing’s controversial new embassy in London over human rights and security concerns.

The new embassy, if approved by the UK government, would be the “biggest Chinese embassy in Europe,” one lawmaker said earlier.

Protester Iona Boswell, a 40-year-old social worker, told AFP said there was “no need for a mega embassy here” and that she believed it would be used to facilitate the “harassment of dissidents”.

China has for several years been trying to relocate its embassy, currently in the British capital’s upmarket Marylebone district, to the sprawling historic site in the shadow of the Tower of London.

The move has sparked fierce opposition from nearby residents, rights groups, critics of China’s ruling Communist Party and others.

“This is about the future of our freedom, not just the site of a Chinese Embassy in London,” Conservative Party lawmaker Tom Tugendhat told AFP at the protest, adding that people living in the UK have been threatened by Chinese state agents.

“I think it would be a threat to all of us because we would see an increase in economic espionage… and an increase in the silencing of opponents of the Chinese Communist Party (in the UK),” the former security minister added.

Housing the Royal Mint, the official maker of British coins, for nearly two centuries, the site was earlier home to a 1348-built Cistercian abbey but is currently derelict.

Beijing bought it for a reported US$327 million in 2018.

“It will be like a headquarters (for China) to catch the (Hong Kong) people in the UK to (send them) back to China,” said another protester dressed in black and wearing a full face mask, giving his name only as “Zero”, a member of “Hongkongers in Leeds,” the northern English city.

The protest comes as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, elected last July, wants more engagement with Beijing following years of deteriorating relations over various issues, in particular China’s rights crackdown in Hong Kong.

In November, Starmer became the first UK prime minister since 2018 to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, when the pair held talks at the G20 summit in Brazil.

A national planning inspector will now hold a public inquiry into the project, but communities secretary Angela Rayner will make the final decision.

Opponents fear the Labour government’s emphasis on economic growth, and improved China ties, could trump other considerations.