China's Mega-Embassy Faces Its MAGA Nemesis
Treading an independent path between two superpowers in a fracturing world was never going to be easy. The Labour government of Keir Starmer hasn't been deflected from its pursuit of better economic relations with China, even after President Donald Trump started a tariff offensive aimed at isolating the US's biggest rival. A two-century-old Georgian building opposite the Tower of London may be where the wheels finally come off Britain's delicate maneuvering.
The White House has warned the British government against allowing a Chinese embassy to be situated at the former Royal Mint, the Sunday Times reported. The newspaper cited a senior US official as saying it was 'deeply concerned' about giving China potential access to nearby communications cables that are critical to the UK's financial-services industry. Politicians in the Netherlands have also raised concerns over the potential impact that Chinese interceptions of data traffic could have on the security and integrity of Dutch financial institutions.
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