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Prominent U.S. lawmakers
wrote to UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper on Nov. 4, urging the UK to deny the Chinese regime authorization to build a 614,000 square-foot “super embassy” in a strategic location in London.
The proposed embassy would be across the street from the Royal Mint Court and atop critical communication cables that serve London’s financial district, raising security concerns, the lawmakers wrote.
The letter was signed by Rep. Brian Mast (R-Mich.), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chair of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Rep. Keith Self (R-Penn.), chair of the House Subcommittee on Europe, and Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.), chair of the House Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific.
“The U.K. should be under no illusion that China is their friend. This is the same regime that hacked the U.K. election system, flooded Parliament with spies, infiltrated dozens of British universities and stole intellectual property from European companies,” Mast
stated. “The U.K. government should not reward the CCP with a crown jewel embassy in London.”
Highlighting the CCP’s track record of espionage and cyberattacks, the lawmakers also noted that intelligence sharing between the UK, the United States, and other Five Eyes nations could be threatened by the CCP’s access to critical telecom infrastructure if the embassy construction proceeds.
Cooper was appointed in September, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had earlier this year agreed to cooperation in curbing CCP influence operations with former UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
“This issue also comes at a time when the security threat from [China] is not only well-documented, but growing in scale and sophistication,” the letter reads.
UK agencies recently
cosigned a cybersecurity
advisory that warns of CCP-backed cyberespionage compromising global networks, overlapping with the campaign commonly known as Salt Typhoon. Agencies from the United States and 12 other countries warned that these state-sanctioned hackers are targeting telecommunications providers and the hospitality and transportation industries, giving them the ability to track individuals’ movements and communications around the world.
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The head of MI5 also recently warned UK politicians they were increasingly
targets of foreign spies, and that the UK faces
threats to national security by the CCP “every day.”
The lawmakers also urged caution on other CCP threats which “the UK government has seemingly overlooked,” such as an
active Confucius Institute at 20 different UK universities, including the University of Liverpool, which recently received a UK defense grant.
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The Confucius Institute program, run by the Chinese regime, began in 2004 and purported to teach Chinese language and culture. As investigations subsequently revealed that the regime made use of these programs to carry out its agenda overseas,
including targeting dissidents and influencing institutions, most of the programs were closed down. However, scholars warned in 2022 that some of these programs have
continued under new names.
The lawmakers also highlighted partnerships between UK universities and Chinese entities doing research with ties to the United States, such as the Lau China Institute at King’s College London, which, “given known [Chinese] espionage concerns, raises serious concerns over sensitive research security.” They also said they are concerned that after the UK released the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, property close to a U.S. base may be leased to Beijing.
“Allowing the CCP to expand its influence in the heart of our closest ally only emboldens its malign efforts and poses serious risks to global security, democratic institutions, and economic stability,” Moolenaar
stated.
The UK last month pushed its deadline to December to approve or deny the Chinese embassy amid
controversy over the nation’s
relationship with the Chinese regime and the British government’s recent decision not to prosecute two individuals charged with spying for Beijing.
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Udumbara
