Chinese Super Embassy in London Would Boost Capacity for Transnational Repression, Experts Say

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The British government is due to announce by Dec. 10 whether it is giving the go-ahead to a controversial new Chinese “super embassy” in London, which activists fear could become a hub for the coordination of transnational repression.

The Chinese regime purchased the site, Royal Mint Court, in 2018 and wants to convert it to create a much larger embassy than that in its existing building in London.

“The embassy will definitely increase transnational repression,” Duncan Smith said. “It will also increase spying and espionage, because they'll have more bodies to do it.”

Chinese regime leader Xi Jinping last year requested that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer intervene, and ministers took control of the process.

The joint committee concluded: “This presents eavesdropping risks in peacetime and sabotage risks in a crisis.”

Duncan Smith said the site is above cables that carry financial data to and from the City of London financial district, and he said, “All of that can be monitored, plugged into, disrupted.”

He said he believed there are also secure cables, which are connected to the intelligence services, MI5 and MI6.

Philip Ingram, a former senior British military intelligence officer, told The Epoch Times the new embassy should not be approved.

“China’s number one intelligence priority is anything that will give them economic advantage, and being in a position where they can tap into, or intercept and decrypt all of the financial information being transmitted to and from the whole of the City of London is too good an opportunity for them,” Ingram said.

“The Chinese do not care about the laws in the UK,” Ingram said. “This embassy will be the focus for huge amounts of action breaking our laws, stealing sensitive financial and political data, intellectual property, and coordinating the monitoring and oppression of anyone they consider a threat to the CCP.”

Bob Blackman, a Conservative Member of Parliament, told The Epoch Times there had been instances of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) trying to capture Chinese nationals in the UK.

“That is why this super embassy is a real concern,” Blackman said. “There is ample space for dungeons. If they capture these Chinese nationals it’s a real challenge.”

“It would be the biggest embassy anywhere in the world,” Blackman said. “Why do they need that? Who is going to be inside there?”

Laura Harth, a spokesperson for Safeguard Defenders, a human rights nongovernmental organization that focuses on China, told The Epoch Times the CCP already uses an army of proxies to carry out transnational repression abroad, as well as using threats to family members back in China.

“I don’t want to exaggerate what this super embassy adds. ... I think it just ups their capacity by a lot,” Harth said.

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After it was announced that a decision had been postponed, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian called on the UK government to “immediately fulfill its obligations” over the super embassy plan, and warned of “consequences.”

Duncan Smith said Lin’s tone suggested Beijing believed London had reneged on a deal made behind closed doors.

Asked by a journalist if Britain would be “pushed around” by China, Starmer told Bloomberg on Oct. 28, “No. The decision on the embassy will be taken in the proper way regardless of any views or pressure from anyone.”

Harth said, “Britain is being bullied and being coerced, and that’s exactly the way the CCP operates. And at some point you have to say, ’stop.'”

Duncan Smith said he understood the British government, then led by Boris Johnson, told Beijing that the Royal Mint Court site would be considered suitable for an embassy.

“It was an indication at that time of the relationship” between London and Beijing, which has worsened considerably in the last five years, Duncan Smith said.

Victor Gao, a former Chinese regime adviser, told Times Radio on Oct. 19 that if the super embassy plan was rejected, the CCP would likely respond by rejecting plans for a $132 million rebuild of the British embassy in Beijing.

Gao said rejecting the London embassy plan would be “stupid” and could mark the beginning of a “very nasty chapter” in Sino-British relations.

Tom Tugendhat, a former security minister, described Gao’s comments as wolf warrior diplomacy, in a post on X, “We are being threatened by bullies. We have a choice—we can become victims or choose strength. Cowardice doesn’t suit us.”

Police Stations, Spies

In July, the JNCSS published a report that said, “the UK currently lacks a clear strategy to address TNR,” referring to transnational repression.

On Oct. 16, 2022, several staff members from the Chinese consulate in Manchester beat peaceful pro-democracy protesters from Hong Kong, sparking outrage among Hongkongers around the world.

In June 2023, Tugendhat told the Chinese Embassy in London to close down four unofficial police stations operating in the UK.

The Chinese regime said the outposts were set up to perform administrative tasks such as assisting expats with driver’s license renewal, but Safeguard Defenders alleged some stations were involved in “persuasion to return“ operations, meaning they had helped to coerce targets to ”voluntarily” return to China.

In December 2024, Hong Kong authorities placed a 1 million Hong Kong dollar ($128,000) bounty on Chloe Cheung, a 20-year-old UK-based activist who was accused of breaching the former British colony’s National Security Law.

Cheung told the “British Thought Leaders” program earlier this year, “Basically, if anyone could get me to the embassy or provide any information about me, they could get some sort of money as a reward.”

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In May 2024, three men, Matthew Trickett, 37, Chi Leung Wai, 38, and Chung Biu Yuen, 63, were charged with agreeing to “undertake information gathering, surveillance, and acts of deception that were likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service,” namely, Hong Kong, and forcing entry into a UK residential address.

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Trickett, a former Royal Marine, was later found dead in a park, while Chi and Chung face trial in February 2026.

UK–China relations have worsened over the last decade, but Starmer’s government has been wary of calling Beijing an enemy or a threat to national security.

“Obviously, China is a threat on multiple fronts, and we should just call it what it is,” Harth said, adding that the UK government’s efforts to avoid calling Beijing an enemy were “ridiculous semantics.”

On Sept. 15, prosecutors dropped charges against Christopher Cash, 30, a former parliamentary researcher for the Conservative Party, and Christopher Berry, 33, a teacher, who had both been accused of spying for China. Both men denied the charges and have protested their innocence.

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Hongkongers holding a rally were dragged into the Chinese Consulate and beaten by staff in Manchester, England, on Oct. 16, 2022. Screenshot via Hong Kong Indigenous Defense Force

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The JCNSS letter states, “The controversy over the failed prosecution of suspected Chinese spies this year is only the most recent reminder of the scale of China’s illicit activities.”

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On Oct. 15, the government published three witness statements by deputy national security adviser Matt Collins, which revealed details of the CCP’s espionage operations in the UK.

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Andy Jenkinson, fellow at the Cyber Theory Institute and author of the book “Stuxnet to Sunburst: 20 Years of Digital Exploitation and Cyber Warfare,” told The Epoch Times the plans for the embassy building are “shrouded in secrecy.”

Digital Spying

“Cables running under, or near the building, are certainly at risk of being tampered with,” he said, adding that the majority of spying in 2025 is “digital.”

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Blackman said the government had been pushing solar farms and wind turbines, which relied on parts imported from China, and he said if the Chinese decided to block exports to the UK they could, “paralyze this country.”

Duncan Smith said Starmer is “between a rock and a hard place,” about the embassy, but he said, “The government should take this as an opportunity to to say ‘No, we’re not going to do it.’”

In response to the JCNSS report, published on Oct. 30, the UK government said the Defending Democracy Taskforce (DDTF) had concluded a comprehensive review into TNR.

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“The review found that the UK maintains a hard operating environment for those states wishing to conduct TNR and that we have a robust tools and system-wide safeguards in place to counter this threat, including the National Security Act 2023,” the government said.

The Epoch Times asked the UK Foreign Office for comment on the plans for the British embassy in Beijing and Duncan Smith’s allegation of a secret deal, but has not received a response.

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