Angela Rayner calls on China to explain redacted images in super-embassy plans
The Deputy Prime Minister, who as Housing Secretary is responsible for overseeing planning matters, has given Beijing two weeks to explain why areas of its plans for the sprawling new embassy site in central London are blacked out.
China hawks in Westminster have raised alarm that the embassy site could be used to conduct surveillance from British soil.
Pro-democracy campaigners from Hong Kong, as well as Uighurs and Tibetans, meanwhile, fear that intimidation and reprisals from the Chinese state could result from the embassy going ahead.
This follows reports that bounties have been issued by China for dissident Hong Kongers now living in the UK.
In a letter seen by the PA news agency, Ms Rayner's Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government asks planning consultants representing the Chinese embassy to explain why drawings of the planned site are blacked out.
The letter gives two weeks, until August 20, for an explanation to be provided.
It also suggests that a final planning decision on the embassy site, at Royal Mint Court, just east of London's financial district, will be made by September 9.
Copies of the letter were also sent to the Home Office and the Foreign Office by email.
It notes that the Home Office requested a new 'hard perimeter' be placed around the embassy site, to prevent 'unregulated public access', and acknowledges this could require a further planning application.
Plans for the super-embassy were previously rejected by Tower Hamlets Council in 2022, with the Chinese opting not to appeal.
However, Beijing resubmitted the application a fortnight after Sir Keir Starmer's election victory last year, believing Labour may be more receptive to the application.
Since entering office Sir Keir's Government has sought closer links with Beijing after a cooling during the final years of Conservative Party rule.
The final decision will be made by Mr Rayner in her role as Housing Secretary.
Alicia Kearns, the shadow national security minister, said: 'No surprises here – Labour's rush to appease Xi Jinping's demands for a new embassy demonstrated a complacency when it came to keeping our people safe. Having deluded themselves for so long, they've recognised we were right to be vigilant.
'The disturbing bounty notes urging British citizens to kidnap and deliver their Hong Kong neighbours to the current CCP embassy laid bare the risks – yet the Foreign Secretary didn't even summon the Chinese ambassador in the face of direct threats to those seeking refuge in our country.
'CCP ambitions for a larger embassy would only amplify opportunities for espionage and transnational repression.'
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