LONDON (Reuters) – The British foreign and interior ministers have indicated they will support China’s contested plans to build a large new embassy in London if minor adjustments are made to the planning application.
This is the first time that ministers under Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer have signalled they would back the plans, which have been a source of diplomatic tension between the two countries.
The Chinese government purchased Royal Mint Court, a historic site near the Tower of London, in 2018 but had its requests for planning permission to build the new embassy there rejected by the local council.
Central government took control of the stalled planning decision last year and an inquiry next month will hear arguments about whether the embassy should be approved. A decision is expected to be made by May.
Foreign minister David Lammy and interior minister Yvette Cooper in a joint letter to the planning inquiry highlighted “the importance of countries having functioning diplomatic premises in each other’s capitals” and said London’s police had recently withdrawn their objections.
The ministers signalled their support for China’s plans if small changes were made to the planning application, including China giving up diplomatic accreditation to other buildings in London.
Britain’s foreign ministry is “currently in discussions with China to secure an undertaking”, said the letter sent on Jan. 14. “We will be unable to support this application if China is not able to provide a satisfactory undertaking.”
The ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Labour government in power since July has made improving ties with China one of its main foreign policy goals after a period under successive Conservative governments when relations plunged to their lowest in decades.
China hopes to build a roughly 600,000-square-foot embassy on the former site of the Royal Mint, the maker of British coins. This would be China’s biggest mission in Europe and more than a third larger than its one in Washington.
The letter from the British ministers was first reported by the Financial Times.
(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
