China’s proposal for a large embassy by the Tower of London, near critical communications cables, has led to espionage concerns. China describes the claims as “slander.”
It’s been home to a black death burial ground, monastery and Royal Navy shipyard and was the epicenter of coin production as the Royal Mint. But a prime piece of London real estatecould be about to face its starkest transformation yet — into a massive Chinese diplomatic site dubbed a “super-embassy” by British media.
Next month the British government is due to decide whether to grant the Chinese government permission to create an Embassy House and Cultural Exchange Building on the site of Royal Mint Court.
The proposed development measures more than 610,000 square feet — nearly 10 times the size of China’s current main embassy building and larger than the 518,050-square-foot U.S. Embassy that opened in London in January 2018. It also contains plans for 225 residences, a visa processing center and a “heritage interpretation pavilion,” according to plans submitted to the local council, Tower Hamlets.