China Considers Lifting Sanctions on UK Politicians Expressing Concerns About New Embassy Plans

Jun 22, 2025 - 09:57 Updated: Jun 21, 2025 - 20:02

China Considers Lifting Sanctions on UK Politicians Expressing Concerns About New Embassy Plans

China is considering lifting sanctions on British politicians, but some Parliament members are concerned the move could be tied to plans for a new Chinese embassy in London.

Liu Jianchao, a senior Chinese diplomat and head of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) international department, visited the UK from June 8-10 to meet with Foreign Secretary David Lammy, National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, and former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Liu’s negotiation conditions with the UK remain unknown. After his departure, UK media began reporting that the CCP is considering lifting sanctions on UK citizens and organizations, though it remains unclear whether this applies to all sanctions or only some.

However, these meetings were not publicized by the UK government or covered by the UK mainstream media.

The CCP touted Liu’s visits in multiple official mouthpiece media outlets, with one quoting Liu’s words to Blair that the CCP would like to work together with the UK Labour Party “to make good use of the China-UK political party dialogue mechanism, strengthen political dialogue, and enhance mutual understanding and comprehension.”

However, Lord Alton, one of the lords who was sanctioned, believes the move is tied to the CCP pushing through its plans to build a new embassy in London.

He wrote in a June 16 post on X: “Trading sanctions on members of @UKParliament in return for a mega CCP-regime embassy would be like selling your soul to the devil - worthy of Faustus.”

The CCP bought the 700,000-square-foot Royal Mint Court site, a historic venue near Tower Bridge, in 2018 and planned to develop it into the largest Chinese embassy in Europe.

Once built, it would be ten times the size of China’s current embassy in London and nearly twice the size of the Chinese Embassy in Washington.

In 2022, the Tower Hamlets Council rejected the initial planning permit amid strained Sino-British relations, dominated by disputes over Hong Kong’s democracy, human rights issues, and cyberattacks targeting UK institutions.

However, after the Labour Party’s national election victory in July 2024, China promptly resubmitted the project proposal.

Lord Alton challenged the CCP’s proposal for a mega-embassy in London in a parliamentary meeting on June 12, citing “genocide against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang” and imprisonment and bounties on Hong Kong pro-democracy activists.

Iain Duncan Smith, former Conservative Party leader and one of several UK parliamentarians sanctioned by China in 2021, told the British political blog Guido Fawkes that China’s offer to remove sanctions is an attempt to pave the way for what he called “spy-ridden Chinese super embassy.”

In a Feb. 17 post on X, Duncan Smith said allowing China’s proposed embassy plans to proceed “would be the biggest act of ‘kowtowing’ in British history” and a “nightmare.”

In 2021, the CCP sanctioned five Members of Parliament (MPs), two members of the House of Lords, and two other citizens for highlighting human rights abuses against Uyghurs in Xinjiang, which the CCP labels as “lies and disinformation.”

Tim Loughton, a sanctioned former MP, told NTD, sister media of The Epoch Times: “We have made it clear that we do not want our ‘unsanctioning’ attached to any sort of seal to have the Royal Mint Court embassy approved by the government, for example.” “It was entirely unjustified that we were sanctioned in the first place purely for speaking out in our Parliamentary workplace against the CCP’s human rights abuses, which we have a right and responsibility to do as democratically elected parliamentarians,” Loughton said.

The other MPs targeted by the CCP were Nusrat Ghani, Neil O’Brien, and Tom Tugendhat. The two peers were David Alton and Helena Kennedy.

NTD reached out to 10 Downing Street, the official residence and office of the UK prime minister, for comment.

Dilemma for the UK Government

The UK’s Labour government and Prime Minister Keir Starmer have indicated openness to renewed engagement with Beijing, particularly on economic cooperation.

At the 2024 G20 Summit in Brazil, Starmer became the first UK Prime Minister in six years to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Starmer said he wanted a “strong” UK-China relationship.

During the meeting with Xi, Keir Starmer said that Xi personally raised the topic of the proposed Chinese embassy through a phone call. “We have since acted by calling in that application,” Starmer said.

This means the final decision-making power of the application for the embassy has shifted from Tower Hamlets Council to the UK government, potentially raising the chances of the likelihood of approval.

After Starmer’s decision to reconsider the application, UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves visited Beijing in January 2025, where she secured £600 million ($756 million) in Chinese investment pledges.

A mutual exchange of benefits could be happening between Beijing and London, such as the lifting of sanctions. Lord Alton told the NTD in an email on June 17, “Only the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister and their inner circle know the answer to that.”

The proposed super embassy at Royal Mint Court, strategically located between the City of London and Canary Wharf, lies directly above critical communication cables that serve the capital’s financial hubs, intensifying national security concerns among the UK’s allies.

As the embassy is regarded as Chinese sovereign territory, the UK lacks oversight authority, a situation that particularly alarms the United States.

The Times reported on June 7 that U.S. President Donald Trump has pressed Starmer to block the proposed Chinese super embassy, with the issue being discussed during U.S.–UK trade talks. Diplomats indicate that the Trump administration might have reservations about sharing intelligence with the UK if the embassy is approved.

House lawmakers, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), the chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, expressed concerns about the Chinese new embassy plan in a Feb. 26 letter to British Ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson.

“There is no good reason to give China the gift of greater influence and espionage, the risks to British citizens and global security should be clear,” the letter read.

House Select Committee on the CCP posted on its X account, replying to a report regarding China using a lobby firm to seek approval for the new embassy: “The PRC’s mega-embassy in the UK raises significant security concerns: from interference and surveillance to risks for sensitive infrastructure like London’s financial services. We must work to urgently address this issue and work with our allies to protect national security.”

Continued Protests Outside Chinese Embassy

Another concern for the UK government is that, if the proposed Chinese embassy complex is built, it will frequently attract large crowds of protesters.

A submission from the Metropolitan Police said 47 protests were held or to be scheduled outside the current embassy in 2023 and 2024, many of which had more than 100 attendees.

Chief Inspector David Hodges told local councillors that the site is located at “a major arterial junction where any demonstration would have a serious and significant effect to not only the local area but also wider London.”

In early 2025, two major demonstrations, each with at least 4,000 attendees, took place at Royal Mint Court, due to increasing concerns that the facility might be used for espionage or transnational repression purposes.

“CCP lies, people die!” “Down with the CCP!” “Free Hong Kong!” “Free Tibet!” protesters shouted during the gatherings.

A resident in Tower Hamlets, Ms. Selma, attended the protest in March. She told NTD that the event drew a diverse crowd, including Tibetans, Hongkongers, Uyghurs, Taiwanese, Chinese dissidents, local residents, and a cross-party group of MPs, all voicing concerns over national security, human rights, and local disruptions.

As a local, Selma strongly opposes the idea of building a Chinese embassy near her home.

“We don’t want a regime that violates human rights establishing a foothold here. Why do they need such a huge embassy? It’s clearly to facilitate overseas suppression. Will they monitor us, the local residents? Will they persecute us in the embassy?” she said.

On Oct. 16, 2022, a Hong Kong pro-democracy protester was forcibly dragged into the Chinese consulate grounds in Manchester and beaten up. He escaped with assistance from police and fellow protesters.

Another group has been holding a peaceful 24/7 protest across the road from the Chinese embassy for more than 23 years.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, a spiritual group that practices gentle exercises and meditation, protests around the clock. The group has been calling for an end to persecution in China, where followers face imprisonment, torture, and forced organ harvesting.

For over two decades, the protest has continued as the situation in China remains unresolved. Ms. Gao, one of the initiators of the protest, told NTD, “Wherever the new embassy is, that’s where we’ll be.”