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US lawmakers have expressed concern for the United Kingdom over China’s plan to build a mass embassy in London while Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer prepares to meet President Donald Trump.
Chris Smith, the Republican Chairman of the Congress Executive Commission for China and John Molenaar, the Republican leader of the China Committee of the Home, said they were concerned that the United Kingdom was being rewarded, despite its human rights and transnational oppression data.
“Donating the Chinese Communist government with the largest embassy in Europe is a counterproductive and unforgettable reward,” Lawmakers wrote on British Ambassador Lord Peter Mandelson on Wednesday.
Smith and Moolenaar said China’s allowing to build a large embassy in the country of former Royal Mint court will reward him when thousands of political prisoners, including British media mogul and Jimmy Lai, were arrested in Hong Kong.
Lai, who founded the unforgettable Apple Daily, has been detained in Hong Kong since 2020. The pro-democracy activist has been accused of foreign clashes and plot to publish seductive materials through his media group, the accusations he denies.
“Accepting the Chinese Communist government such a prominent diplomatic foundation in the United Kingdom will promote its effort only to intimidate and harass citizens and dissidents and experts in the United Kingdom throughout Europe who oppose or criticize its policies,” they added.
Critics in the UK and the US have also raised concerns to allow Beijing to build an embassy so close to the city of London due to the location of critical communication infrastructure that can facilitate espionage.
“This is a special place where wires and pipes are directed underneath,” said Tom Tughens, a conservative MP and former Minister of the United Kingdom for Security.
The Tugenddhat, who is also a collaborator at the Hudson Think-tank Institute in Washington, said that allowing Beijing to build a mega embassy in that country sent an inappropriate message given how China was operating all over the world.
“Embassies tell a story and the story that this embassy is telling is that it will be the biggest post of the Chinese Communist Party in Europe,” Tughets said.
Smith and Molenaar asked Mandelson to broadcast their concerns to the embassy at Starmer during his visit. It remains unclear whether the Trump administration has expressed a view to the British government for the planned embassy.
“We know that Prime Minister Starmer has expressed concern about Jimmy Lai’s detention and promised to release him a” priority “in the United Kingdom,” they said. “We encourage him to use his meeting with President Trump to coordinate the effects to win the unconditional Lai release.”
In October, Trump told Hugh Hewitt Show that he would secure Lai release. “100 percent. . . He will be easy to get out. “
The push of the US Congress comes while the United Kingdom is increasing diplomatic engagement with China after accusing the previous Tory government of weakening important communication channels.
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Foreign Secretary David Lammy have visited Beijing in recent months. Starmer is expected to travel there this year. China is seen by the British Labor Government as a major source of further investment in the United Kingdom.
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in London said: “Local investigation into the planning request has been completed. The UK side must consider and approve this planning request at an early date.”
The Chinese Embassy was committed to “developing mutual useful cooperation between the two countries,” the spokesman added.
