Chinese Super Embassy in London Would Boost Capacity for Transnational Repression, Experts Say

UK parliament joint committee said new embassy site ‘presents eavesdropping risks in peacetime and sabotage risks in a crisis.’

Former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith speaks to NTD as protesters from at least 28 diasporic groups protest outside the proposed site of the new Chinese Embassy redevelopment in Royal Mint Court, central London, on Feb. 8, 2025. Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire

The British government is due to announce by Dec. 10 whether it is giving the go-ahead to a controversial new Chinese “super embassy” in London, which activists fear could become a hub for the coordination of transnational repression.

The Chinese regime purchased the site, Royal Mint Court, in 2018 and wants to convert it to create a much larger embassy than that in its existing building in London.