The British government has extended the deadline to October to decide on whether to approve China‘s plans to build the largest embassy in Europe in London, after Beijing refused to explain why the plans contained blacked-out areas.
China’s plans to build a new embassy on the site of a two-century-old building near the Tower of London have stalled for the past three years because of opposition from numerous groups in Britain.
Pro-democracy campaigners from Hong Kong fear Beijing could use the embassy to harass political opponents and even detain them, while nearby residents fear it could pose a security risk to them and attract large protests.
Politicians in Britain and the United States have warned the government against allowing China to build the embassy on the site over concerns that it could be used as a base for spying.
DP9, the planning consultancy working for the Chinese government, said on Friday its client felt it would be inappropriate to provide full internal layout plans, saying additional drawings provided an acceptable level of detail, after the government asked why several areas were blacked out in drawings.
“The Applicant considers the level of detail shown on the unredacted plans is sufficient to identify the main uses,” DP9 said in a letter to the government. “In these circumstances, we consider it is neither necessary nor appropriate to provide additional more detailed internal layout plans or details.”
Several rooms on the plans submitted to the local council, including the basement area, were marked “redacted for security reasons”.
The proposed complex would include offices, a large basement area, housing for 200 staff, and a new tunnel to connect the Embassy House to a separate building on the embassy grounds.
The United Kingdom government’s decision to extend the deadline came after the embassy earlier this month said that claims the building, located near London’s financial district, could have “secret facilities” used to harm Britain’s national security were “despicable slandering”.
The British government’s department of housing said in reply on Friday that it would now rule on whether the project can go ahead by October 21 rather than by the previous deadline of September 9 because it needed more time to consider the responses.
Luke de Pulford, executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group with ties to an international network of politicians critical of China, which revealed the letter, said: “These explanations are far from satisfactory.”
De Pulford, a longstanding critic of plans for the embassy, said the “assurances amount to ‘trust me bro’”.
The Chinese embassy in London expressed “serious concern” over the government’s response.
The embassy said host countries have an “international obligation” to support the construction of diplomatic buildings.
“The Chinese side urges the UK side to fulfil its obligation and approve the planning application without delay,” the embassy said in a statement.
The Chinese government purchased Royal Mint Court in 2018, but its requests for planning permission to build the new embassy there were rejected by the local council in 2022 over safety and security concerns.
Chinese President Xi Jinping asked Prime Minister Keir Starmer last year to intervene. Starmer’s central government took control of the planning decision last year
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