On Saturday afternoon, nearly 30 civil organizations and local residents’ groups in the UK held a large-scale demonstration outside the Royal Mint Court in London to oppose the construction of a new “super embassy” by the Chinese Communist Party at the site. The protest drew support from four Members of Parliament.
According to the organizers, around four thousand people participated, making it one of the largest overseas demonstrations by Hong Kong residents in recent years. Hong Kong organizations from various parts of the UK, including Leeds, Manchester, and Sheffield, arranged transportation to ferry local residents to join the protest in London.
Due to the large number of demonstrators, the space in front of the Royal Mint Court and the traffic safety island were insufficient to accommodate the protesters. The London police had to close off the intersection in front of the Royal Mint Court, forcing vehicles to detour. The closure of this main road in London briefly paralyzed the traffic in the area.
The organizers stated that the primary goal of the protest was to “overflow” the Royal Mint Court area and show the London police that the location could not accommodate large-scale protests and was unsuitable for the construction of a new Chinese embassy.
Local resident Nas told Radio Free Asia that the demonstration had disrupted traffic on a major London thoroughfare, demonstrating that the site was unsuitable for a Chinese embassy. He criticized the Beijing government for refusing to listen to residents’ opinions and mentioned that a lawyer had been appointed to express residents’ opposition at a public hearing on the following Tuesday.
Four Members of Parliament showed their support for the protesters, including former Security Minister and Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, the Chair of the cross-party Hong Kong group in Parliament and Labour MP Blair McDougall, Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick, and former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith.
They pointed out that British intelligence agencies had warned that the Chinese “super embassy” could become a massive “spy base,” posing a threat not only to Hong Kong residents, Tibetans, Uighurs, and other diaspora communities but also endangering local residents and UK national security. They criticized the Labour government for disregarding public opinion. Tugendhat even suggested that if China wanted to build a “super embassy,” it should first close the “Xinjiang concentration camps.”
Radio Free Asia reported that the controversial Chinese “super embassy” issue, which has been ongoing for years, dates back to 2018 when the Chinese government purchased the historic Royal Mint Court in a prime location in London with a plan to construct a “super embassy” ten times the size of the original embassy, making it the largest diplomatic facility globally for China.
In 2021, the British media revealed that during Boris Johnson’s tenure as Foreign Secretary, his special advisor Edward Lister assisted the Chinese government in purchasing the former Royal Mint Court, and Lister was accused of receiving remuneration from both parties.
The local council had rejected the development application twice, but the Labour government in the UK had been supporting it, delegating the decision-making authority to Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Minister Angela Rayner, who would decide after the public hearing scheduled for the following Tuesday.
Zheng Wenjie, founder of the UK Hong Kong Association and a member of the Labour Party, questioned whether there was any “inappropriate collusion” involved in these operations. Zheng expressed concerns that the monitoring equipment in the “super embassy” could aid China in cross-border suppression and noted that the area being a major London thoroughfare and tourist spot would result in further congestion due to protests.
British intelligence agencies have indicated that there are crucial communication cables underground at the site, raising concerns that the construction of the “super embassy” could endanger UK national security and make it easier for China to infiltrate the nearby financial hub in London to exert economic coercion and other means.
Zheng Wenjie has registered to attend the public hearing starting next Tuesday to state opposition arguments, with the government expected to make a final decision in May. He emphasized that the relevant procedures were not yet completed, providing an opportunity for all parties to resist the “super embassy.” He believed that the protest on Saturday would be crucial in using the power of the masses to compel the government to reconsider.
He was confident that under public pressure, the Labour government would have to consider its policies towards China and the “super embassy” in light of the upcoming elections.