Republicans urge Britain to oppose China’s plans for new embassy in London

Republican lawmakers in Washington are sounding the alarm over China’s plans to build a large embassy in London, urging the British ambassador to raise the issue with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer during his trip this week to the US capital.

Starmer is expected in Washington for several days of meetings, including one with US President Donald Trump on Thursday, as European leaders seek continued US support for Ukraine.

“Gifting the Chinese Communist government with the largest embassy in Europe is a counterproductive and unearned reward,” US congressmen John Moolenaar of Michigan and Chris Smith of New Jersey wrote to Lord Peter Mandelson, Britain’s ambassador to Washington, on Wednesday.

Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and Smith, who co-chairs the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, argued that granting Beijing a prominent diplomatic presence contradicts its record on human rights, adding that it would only “embolden its efforts to intimidate and harass UK citizens and dissidents”.

China wants to build a roughly 700,000-square-foot embassy at the site of the Royal Mint Court, the former headquarters of Britain’s coin maker, near the Tower of London, to replace its embassy in central London.