Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Approval for a huge 215,000 sq. ft. Chinese "super embassy" in central London was postponed for a third time at the last minute, but was expected to get the go ahead in January after the government determined it was not a threat to national security.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government had been due to announce its decision Dec. 10, but said Tuesday that it needed more time, prompting protests from Chinese diplomats.
The final decision, more than three years after Tower Hamlets council refused to grant planning permission, was now due Jan. 20, ahead of a planned three-day visit by Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Beijing, the first by a British leader since 2018.
The move, overriding security concerns and local opposition to the facility, combining seven existing diplomatic sites dotted around London into a single embassy on the site of the former Royal Mint near Tower Bridge, came after the MI5 and MI6 assessed any risks were manageable.
Opponents argued the facility in the heart of the British capital, close to its financial district, and in particular its proximity to critical fiber-optic networks, would be a prime center for Chinese spying and surveillance operations, pursuing dissidents, or worse.
