Torture, spies and fibre cables: The security concerns over China’s new embassy
Three concerns raised about China’s new London embassy
- The UK has granted approval for a new Chinese embassy in London, despite significant national security warnings from intelligence bodies like MI5 and GCHQ.
- Concerns centre on the embassy's location near sensitive fibre-optic cables, potential for espionage through secret rooms, and transnational repression against dissidents.
- MI5 and GCHQ acknowledged that eliminating every potential risk is unrealistic but said that a “package of mitigations” has been developed to address national security issues.
- Security Minister Dan Jarvis confirmed measures to protect sensitive data and highlighted that consolidating China's diplomatic presence into one site offers security advantages for monitoring.
- The government also agreed that the embassy's public forecourt will not have diplomatic immunity, allowing policing, and reaffirmed that "the extra-territorial application of Hong Kong's national security law is unacceptable and will not be tolerated here in the UK".