UK approves a ‘mega’ Chinese Embassy in London, despite criticism of security risks

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s government on Tuesday approved a huge new Chinese Embassy in central London, despite strong criticism from lawmakers across the political spectrum that it could become a base for espionage and intimidation of opponents.

Local Government Secretary Steve Reed formally signed off on plans for the building near the Tower of London, after years of delays and legal challenges.

Critics have long expressed concerns that the supersized embassy, set to be the biggest Chinese Embassy in Europe, will heighten risks of Chinese intelligence-gathering as well as amplify the threat of surveillance and intimidation of Chinese dissidents in exile.

The heads of two U.K. spy agencies said that while it's not realistic to eliminate all risk, appropriate “security mitigations” were in place.

Plans for the embassy have been plagued by objections and protests since 2018, when China’s government bought the site at Royal Mint Court, where Britain's money was once made, for 225 million pounds (around $300 million.)

Opponents say the huge site sits too close to underground fiber optic cables carrying sensitive financial information between London’s two main financial districts. British media have reported that the 20,000 square-meter (around 215,000 square-foot) complex would include 208 secret basement rooms close to the data cables.

Dissidents have been among those who have protested the plans, saying a mega embassy housing large numbers of officials would further China’s repression of activists abroad.

Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the opposition Conservative Party, joined hundreds of protesters who chanted “no China mega embassy” at the site Sunday.

Critics argue that approving the embassy was a mistake that went beyond security at the building — they say it sends a signal that Britain bows to pressure from Beijing to avoid economic repercussions.

“The government has capitulated to Chinese demands," Conservative security spokesman Chris Philp said.

Security Minister Dan Jarvis insisted: "We don’t trade off security for economic access.”

Helena Kennedy, a human rights lawyer and Labour Party member of the House of Lords, the upper house of the British Parliament, said that the decision was a dangerous step.

“We cannot reinforce the dangerous notion that Britain will continue to make concessions — such as granting a mega embassy — without reciprocity or regard for the rule of law,” she said.

Local residents said they were “determined to keep fighting today’s decision” and planned to challenge the approval in the courts.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has repeatedly postponed its decision in recent months after multiple cases of alleged Chinese spying and political interference underlined concerns about the proposed embassy.

In November, the domestic intelligence agency MI5 issued an alert to lawmakers warning that Chinese agents were making “targeted and widespread” efforts to recruit and cultivate them using LinkedIn or cover companies.

Beijing has strongly denied those claims, calling them “pure fabrication and malicious slander.”

The U.K. government also has faced questions about whether it interfered in the trial of two men accused of spying on Parliament for Beijing, and whose prosecution collapsed last year.

The heads of the domestic security service MI5 and the electronic intelligence agency GCHQ said in a letter to ministers that “as with any foreign embassy on U.K. soil, it is not realistic to expect to be able wholly to eliminate each and every potential risk.”

“However, the collective work across U.K. intelligence agencies and (government) departments to formulate a package of national security mitigations for the site has been, in our view, expert, professional and proportionate,” MI5 chief Ken McCallum and GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler said.

They said there were “clear security advantages” to consolidating China’s current seven diplomatic premises in London onto one site.

The government said that “no bodies with responsibility for national security ... have raised concerns or objected to the proposal on the basis of the proximity of the cables or other underground infrastructure.”

Starmer has stressed that while protecting national security is nonnegotiable, Britain needs to keep up diplomatic dialogue and cooperation with the Asian superpower.

The approval is widely expected to pave the way for a long-anticipated trip by Starmer to China, and an expansion of the U.K. Embassy in Beijing. The closely watched visit would be the first made by a British prime minister since 2018.

China has complained about the seven-year delay in approving the project, saying the U.K. was “constantly complicating and politicizing the matter.”

Demonstrators hold placards and flags as they attend a protest against the proposed Chinese embassy, in London, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street to welcome President Prabowo Subianto of Indonesia and after Britain's government has approved a massive new Chinese Embassy in central London in London, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Demonstrators hold placards and flags as they attend a protest against the opening of the new Chinese embassy, in London, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

A general view of Royal Mint Court where is planning site for the new London Chinese embassy, near London's financial district, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli forces on Tuesday targeted at least two United Nations facilities, pushing forward with its crackdown against the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees tasked with delivering humanitarian services to millions of people across the region.

Crews began bulldozing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency 's offices in Sheikh Jarrah and fired tear gas at a vocational school in Qalandia, marking Israel’s latest and most dramatic step against UNRWA.

Roland Friedrich, the agency's West Bank director, said UNRWA had received word that demolition crews and police arrived at their east Jerusalem headquarters early on Tuesday. Staff have not operated out of the facility for almost a year because of safety reasons, but Israeli forces confiscated devices and forced out the private security guards hired to protect the facility.

“What we saw today is the culmination of two years of incitement and measures against UNRWA in east Jerusalem,” Friedrich said, calling it a violation of international law guaranteeing such facilities protection.

He said forces also began firing tear gas at the vocational school for young Palestinians on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Tuesday afternoon. More than 300 young refugees receive job training in technology and welding there.

Some children on their way home from the school were overcome by the tear gas and a 15-year-old was hit in the eye with a rubber bullet, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem governate, which monitors Palestinian affairs in the area.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the demolition enforced a new law banning UNRWA, noting that Israel owns the site and rejecting UNRWA’s claims that the move violated international law.

Israel has long claimed the agency has an anti-Israel bias, often with little evidence. It says UNRWA employs and maintains ties with militant groups including Hamas. The U.N. has ardently denied such claims and UNRWA has said it acts quickly to purge any suspected militants among its staff.

UNRWA's mandate is to provide aid and services to some 2.5 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, as well as 3 million more refugees in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. The group has for years maintained infrastructure in refugee camps and also run schools and provide health care. But its operations were curtailed last year when Israel’s Knesset passed legislation severing ties and banning it from functioning in what it defines as Israel — including east Jerusalem.

The agency said the demolitions could imperil operations at its vocational center in Qalandia and heath facility in Shua'fat, where it continues to provide education and health services.

An Israeli flag was seen hoisted above the facility in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, where some Israeli politicians arrived on the scene to celebrate the organization's fate. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called it “a historic day.”

The demolition marked the culmination of years of criticism from Israel and its leaders, who contend that UNRWA harbors pro-Palestinian leanings and maintains ties or employees members of militant groups like Hamas.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war more than two years ago, it has ramped up such attacks, accusing UNRWA of being infiltrated by Hamas and saying the militants used its facilities and seized aid. It has provided little evidence for the claims, which the U.N. has denied. The International Court of Justice said in October that Israel must allow the agency to provide humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

Since Israel passed the law banning the agency last year, its facilities — schools and health centers — and its headquarters have repeatedly been closed, raided or left unprotected. Israel has contended the agency perpetuates Palestinians’ refugee status, while UNRWA supporters have said Israel’s attacks on the agency are aimed at sidelining the issue — one of the most contentious dividing Israelis and Palestinians.

“This comes in the wake of other steps taken by Israeli authorities to erase the Palestine Refugee identity,” Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA's commissioner-general, said in a statement on X. “This must be a wake-up call. What happens today to UNRWA will happen tomorrow to any other international organisation or diplomatic mission, whether in the Occupied Palestinian Territory or anywhere around the world.”

Under President Donald Trump, the United States cut funding for the agency in 2018. President Joe Biden restored it in 2021 and later paused funding in 2024.

Israel's ban on UNRWA dovetailed with broader efforts to deregister aid groups operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Israel has passed laws requiring nongovernmental organizations not to hire staff involved in activities that “delegitimize Israel” or support boycotts, demanding they register lists of names as a condition of being allowed to work.

Israel told dozens of groups — including Doctors Without Borders and CARE — that their licenses would expire at the end of 2025. The organizations say the rules are arbitrary and warned that the new ban would harm a civilian population desperately in need of humanitarian aid.

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

People watch the demolition of a UNRWA compound, the U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees, in east Jerusalem Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Israeli bulldozers demolish a UNRWA compound, belonging to the U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees, in east Jerusalem Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Israeli bulldozers demolish a UNRWA compound, belonging to the U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees, in east Jerusalem Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Israeli soldiers take up positions during an army raid in the West Bank city of Hebron Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)