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LONDON (Reuters) – China’s plans to build a new embassy next to the Tower of London have turned into a diplomatic issue, but it all started with a local dispute. The municipalities of this area within the city of London, the second largest power in the world, turned against them and blocked the plan.
China’s plan to build a new embassy next to the Tower of London has turned into a diplomatic issue, but it all started with a local dispute. The picture shows the outside of the proposed location for the Chinese embassy. FILE PHOTO: London, June 2023. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
Just over seven months later, the matter developed into a diplomatic conflict. Officials from both countries told Reuters they were scaling back efforts to repair Britain-China relations.
Two senior Chinese and three British officials told Reuters that the Chinese government expressed its displeasure with the lack of permission to build the embassy in a public-level meeting.
British officials now fear that plans to rebuild the embassy in Beijing will also fail. The current site is so cramped that visitors to the site have had to convert the squash court into an office.
Prime Minister Sunak is now trying to forge a new approach to China to build cooperation with China on trade and climate change while protecting national security interests. Officials say the dispute over the embassy has undermined the effort.
It’s a world away from 2015, when former British Prime Minister David Cameron and Chinese President Xi Jinping sipped beer and ate fish and chips in a British village pub and heralded a “golden age” of British-Chinese relations.
In 2018, China announced plans for the first time to build a 700,000 square foot embassy on the site of the former Royal Mint. It will be the largest Chinese embassy in Europe and about twice the size of the embassy in Washington, DC, the capital of the United States.
China bought the land, about 4 miles from the current embassy in central London, for about £255 million (about 46 billion yen at today’s exchange rate). Borough planning officers accepted the proposal, but locally elected councilors overturned and dismissed it on grounds of safety and the impact on residents.
Senior Chinese officials told Reuters they suspected that the British government had organized local opposition to block the embassy plan.
The Chinese have expressed frustration at their inability to move the embassy in meetings with Britain in recent months, according to four people involved in or with knowledge of the talks.
“It’s definitely a political issue,” said one senior Chinese official.
British officials dismissed such criticism, saying it was an independent decision by advisers.
With China being the second largest source of foreign direct investment in London after the United States over the past decade, the issue could have far-reaching implications.
A senior British official said it was “a very complex and tricky issue”.
The UK government has tried to distance itself from the planning process, but it looks like it will have to decide soon.
August 11 is the deadline for China to appeal its refusal to relocate the embassy.
The first step in filing such an appeal would be to apply to a planning inspector who is independent of the government.
If the Planning and Inspection Board deems an application to be in potential conflict or of national importance, it will refer it to Housing and Communities Minister Gove. If Mr Gove wants to make the final decision himself, he can take steps to “call in,” transferring decision-making authority from municipalities to ministers.
This is where things get even more complicated.
The issue coincides with concerns about China’s crackdown on Hong Kong’s civil liberties, human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, and suspicions that China is trying to infiltrate security systems.
Britain and China have not held direct summit-level talks since 2018. A meeting between Sunak and Xi that was due to coincide with an international conference last November was abruptly cancelled. The last time the two leaders had a telephone conversation was more than a year ago.
Like other European countries, the Sunak government seeks cooperation with China on trade, investment and climate change, while adopting policies aimed at neutralizing the security threat posed by China.
Former leader of the Conservative Party Ian Duncan-Smith said that Britain’s decision to block the embassy project shows that Britain prioritizes national security in its relationship with China. The government’s approach to China “is all very ambiguous. We have to be able to say that we are not ready to give in,” he told Reuters, calling for a tougher stance on China.
China’s foreign ministry said in a letter to Reuters last month that the British government should honor its “international obligations” and help build the new embassy. China wants a solution based on mutually beneficial relations.
Meanwhile, senior British officials said they feared plans to rebuild the British embassy in Beijing would be affected.
A senior officer said the application had been submitted but the license had not yet been granted. It is not clear when the application was submitted.
And we must also consider the residents of Tower Hamlets, the borough where the Tower of London is located.
Many residents of the region are Muslim, and during the initial planning stages, some residents saw the project as a problem because of China’s persecution of the Uyghurs.
At one point, the councilors wanted to get their point across by renaming local streets and new buildings to “Uyghur Court” and “Tiananmen Square.” This plan was not adopted.
Residents are also concerned about local safety.
Around 300 of the residents live in flats near the grounds of the new embassy.
Dave Lake, president of the Royal Mint Court Residents Association, which represents homeowners, said local opposition could be reduced if Chinese officials promised not to enter apartments or take steps such as banning flags that they said they could not.
Mr Lake’s biggest concern at the moment is that Britain and China will ignore the local population and force a deal.
“It’s hopeless. It’s out of our hands and it doesn’t feel right,” Lake said. “I feel that our security problem is so serious that it is going to be ignored,” he said.
(Reporters Andrew MacAskill and Elizabeth Piper)
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LONDON (Reuters) – China’s plans to build a new embassy next to the Tower of London have turned into a diplomatic issue, but it all started with a local dispute. The municipalities of this area within the city of London, the second largest power in the world, turned against them and blocked the plan.
China’s plan to build a new embassy next to the Tower of London has turned into a diplomatic issue, but it all started with a local dispute. The picture shows the outside of the proposed location for the Chinese embassy. FILE PHOTO: London, June 2023. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
Just over seven months later, the matter developed into a diplomatic conflict. Officials from both countries told Reuters they were scaling back efforts to repair Britain-China relations.
Two senior Chinese and three British officials told Reuters that the Chinese government expressed its displeasure with the lack of permission to build the embassy in a public-level meeting.
British officials now fear that plans to rebuild the embassy in Beijing will also fail. The current site is so cramped that visitors to the site have had to convert the squash court into an office.
Prime Minister Sunak is now trying to forge a new approach to China to build cooperation with China on trade and climate change while protecting national security interests. Officials say the dispute over the embassy has undermined the effort.
It’s a world away from 2015, when former British Prime Minister David Cameron and Chinese President Xi Jinping sipped beer and ate fish and chips in a British village pub and heralded a “golden age” of British-Chinese relations.
In 2018, China announced plans for the first time to build a 700,000 square foot embassy on the site of the former Royal Mint. It will be the largest Chinese embassy in Europe and about twice the size of the embassy in Washington, DC, the capital of the United States.
China bought the land, about 4 miles from the current embassy in central London, for about £255 million (about 46 billion yen at today’s exchange rate). Borough planning officers accepted the proposal, but locally elected councilors overturned and dismissed it on grounds of safety and the impact on residents.
Senior Chinese officials told Reuters they suspected that the British government had organized local opposition to block the embassy plan.
The Chinese have expressed frustration at their inability to move the embassy in meetings with Britain in recent months, according to four people involved in or with knowledge of the talks.
“It’s definitely a political issue,” said one senior Chinese official.
British officials dismissed such criticism, saying it was an independent decision by advisers.
With China being the second largest source of foreign direct investment in London after the United States over the past decade, the issue could have far-reaching implications.
A senior British official said it was “a very complex and tricky issue”.
The UK government has tried to distance itself from the planning process, but it looks like it will have to decide soon.
August 11 is the deadline for China to appeal its refusal to relocate the embassy.
The first step in filing such an appeal would be to apply to a planning inspector who is independent of the government.
If the Planning and Inspection Board deems an application to be in potential conflict or of national importance, it will refer it to Housing and Communities Minister Gove. If Mr Gove wants to make the final decision himself, he can take steps to “call in,” transferring decision-making authority from municipalities to ministers.
This is where things get even more complicated.
The issue coincides with concerns about China’s crackdown on Hong Kong’s civil liberties, human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, and suspicions that China is trying to infiltrate security systems.
Britain and China have not held direct summit-level talks since 2018. A meeting between Sunak and Xi that was due to coincide with an international conference last November was abruptly cancelled. The last time the two leaders had a telephone conversation was more than a year ago.
Like other European countries, the Sunak government seeks cooperation with China on trade, investment and climate change, while adopting policies aimed at neutralizing the security threat posed by China.
Former leader of the Conservative Party Ian Duncan-Smith said that Britain’s decision to block the embassy project shows that Britain prioritizes national security in its relationship with China. The government’s approach to China “is all very ambiguous. We have to be able to say that we are not ready to give in,” he told Reuters, calling for a tougher stance on China.
China’s foreign ministry said in a letter to Reuters last month that the British government should honor its “international obligations” and help build the new embassy. China wants a solution based on mutually beneficial relations.
Meanwhile, senior British officials said they feared plans to rebuild the British embassy in Beijing would be affected.
A senior officer said the application had been submitted but the license had not yet been granted. It is not clear when the application was submitted.
And we must also consider the residents of Tower Hamlets, the borough where the Tower of London is located.
Many residents of the region are Muslim, and during the initial planning stages, some residents saw the project as a problem because of China’s persecution of the Uyghurs.
At one point, the councilors wanted to get their point across by renaming local streets and new buildings to “Uyghur Court” and “Tiananmen Square.” This plan was not adopted.
Residents are also concerned about local safety.
Around 300 of the residents live in flats near the grounds of the new embassy.
Dave Lake, president of the Royal Mint Court Residents Association, which represents homeowners, said local opposition could be reduced if Chinese officials promised not to enter apartments or take steps such as banning flags that they said they could not.
Mr Lake’s biggest concern at the moment is that Britain and China will ignore the local population and force a deal.
“It’s hopeless. It’s out of our hands and it doesn’t feel right,” Lake said. “I feel that our security problem is so serious that it is going to be ignored,” he said.
(Reporters Andrew MacAskill and Elizabeth Piper)
#Focus #Chinese #embassy #relocation #plan #diplomatic #issue #difficult #restore #Reuters
