UK delays decision for third time on China's plan for Europe's largest embassy

By Andrew MacAskill

LONDON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Britain delayed on Tuesday for a third time a decision on whether to approve China's controversial plans to build the largest embassy in Europe in London.

China's plans to build a new embassy on the site of a two-century-old building near the Tower of London have stalled for the past three years because of opposition from local residents, lawmakers and Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigners in Britain.

Concerns that the new embassy could be used as a base for spying have prompted some politicians in Britain and the United States to urge the government to block Beijing's plans.

The Department of Housing said in a letter seen by Reuters that it would now rule on whether the project could go ahead by January 20, rather than by December 10, because of delays in receiving responses from the interior and foreign ministries.

DECISION DELAYED OVER SECURITY ASSESSMENT

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the delay was because those ministries had provided views on "particular" security implications of approving the embassy and a decision should not be taken until they had been considered.

Luke de Pulford, executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China and a long-standing critic of plans for the embassy, said the latest delay was "entirely of the government’s own making".

"Rather than this endless deferral, which will only make Beijing more angry, the government should say no, and get it over with," he told Reuters.

The Chinese embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for the Chinese government previously urged the British government to approve the embassy or warned of unspecified "consequences".

The timing of the decision is politically sensitive for Starmer's government after officials were recently accused of playing down the threat China poses to Britain's national security by allowing the collapse of a trial of two British men charged with spying for China.

Starmer warned on Monday that China poses "national security threats" to Britain, but added closer business ties are in the national interest.

The Chinese government purchased the site for the new embassy, at Royal Mint Court, in 2018 but its requests for planning permission were rejected by the local council. Chinese President Xi Jinping asked Starmer last year to intervene.

Opposition politicians have called on the government to block the plans because of the proximity to strategic fibre-optic cables that go underneath the site.

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill and Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Muvija M)