It was the place of the British Royal Mint, where the coins were affected from 1810 to 1975. It is located on the ruins of the cisteright abbey dating in the 14th century, as well as the cemetery from the black death. And from the 16th century to the beginning of the 18th century it was a yard for the royal navy.
Now the subordinate joint is known as the Royal Mint Court on the edge of the new chapter as the House of Chinese Embassy in London. If the British Labor Government approves the project, as it seems probable, China will transfer its embassy from its current neighborhoods in Marylebone to an imposing 5.5 acres in the entire city, which would be the largest diplomatic part in Europe.
Teaching Beijing so the main piece of property, in addition to the London tower and in the shadow of the Skyscraper of the London city, it launched a storm of opposition to neighborhood residents, Hawks Cinema in the British Parliament and Hong Hong Proverbones who were advocates of the democracy who advocated in Britain.
Some say China could use the embassy, with the proximity of strategic optical cables that snake in a financial district, for spying on disidentia and ordinary Britons. Others claim that her position, on the traffic road right along the Tower Bridge, would make it difficult to gather in protest against problems such as Beijing’s breakthrough in Hong Kong or his persecution of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.
“This is not just a building; this is an extension of the power of the Chinese Communist Party in the UK,” said Chloe Cheung, a representative of the Hong Kong Freedom Committee, a pro-democracy foundation, while talking to more than 1,000 protesters gathered at that place this month.
Mrs. Cheung, who left Hong Kong 2020, warned that the superior embassy would “be” about control, fear and muffling of voices. ” She noted that the Hong Kong authorities offered an arrest award.
Protesters, many of whom, like Mrs. Cheung, immigrants from Hong Kong, Bandhed banners and posters say, “CCP watch you. Stop the mega embassy!” There was a shift in political winds.
2022, the Tower Hamlets Municipality Council rejected a project permit. But China re -submitted the proposal after the Labor Party moved to power last July. The Chinese Best Leader, Xi Jinping, raised the question in a call with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Mr. Starmer later said that the G
A public investigation on the proposal ended on Wednesday, and by the summer it is expected by the decision of the secretary of the housing of Angela Rayner.
Two of her fellow ministers – David Lammy, Foreign Minister, and Yvette Cooper, Minister of the Interior – provided temporary support for the plan last month. In the letter to the Council, Mr. Lammy and Mrs. Cooper noted that the metropolitan police had lowered the earlier complaint that a place could not receive demonstrations without disturbing the nearby roads.
“Given the importance of countries that functioned diplomatic premises in the capital,” they wrote, “it is true that China is able to do her diplomatic work in the United Kingdom, as the United Kingdom in China does.”
The Chinese Embassy in London did not respond to the commentary request. But last month, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning, said: “It is an international liability of the host countries to support and facilitate the construction of diplomatic spaces.”
The British government has many reasons for breaking the downtime. Chinese authorities have blocked British plans to renovate their embassy in Beijing while waiting for approval for their own. Britain views China as a source of foreign investment at a time when its economy is stagnant and its relationship with the United States is not safe. The cash register, Rachel Reeves, recently visited Beijing, increased £ 600m ($ 756 million).
“There is no doubt that British politics was very procin under David Cameron, and then switched to an enemy schedule towards China under the following governments, and now switched to multiple meetings,” said Tony Travers, professor of politics at the London School of Economics.
Mr. Cameron, a conservative who was Prime Minister from 2010 to 2016, was famously declared a “golden era” of economic connections between Britain and China. He took Mr. Xia on a celebratory pint at the 16th century pub.
Until 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, also a conservative, banned the technology of Chinese communication giant Huawei from the British Wireless Network in Britain based on national security. Expanded the offer to many residents of Hong Kong to live and work in Britain; This did more than 150,000.
Professor Travers noted that it was a bunch of London planning processes with which major construction projects face three layers of surveillance: local councils, mayor’s office and the National Government. “He touches on micro -planning problems at one end and ends as a high diplomacy on the other,” he said.
Chinese officials lobbied the members of the Council, sending them French wine, tea and, in one case, the Children’s Book of Chinese-English, according to government records. (Some of the gifts were returned.) Critics in Parliament noted that China also orchestrated a campaign of writing a letter that included applications for brands such as Bank of China and Air China.
The Tower Hamlets Council is unusual because it is not controlled by the established political party, but an independent party, aspira. Summitting the rejection of the 2022 embassy, some councilors complained that the government gave up their concern, including fears that the Chinese could enter into sensitive communication lines located in London.
“We are pushing into a corner,” said Peter Golds, a member of the Conservative Council who participated in the protest. “We said we didn’t want it, repeatedly. And suddenly the Government overcomes us.”
Critics said they were confused that police gave up concerns about protest outside the embassy. They also asked why the British government took such an attractive approach to Beijing after the 2022 incident when a pro-democracy demonstrator was dragged to the foundations of the Chinese consulate in Manchester and was beaten by members of the staff.
“It’s simply a wrong place for this embassy,” said Tom Tugendhat, a conservative who served as a Minister of Security and is one of the loudest critics in China in Parliament. “But it’s also wrong to have,” he said, adding, “We already have too much state repression, too much influence, too much aggression.”
Government officials pointed out that Mr. Lammy and Mrs. Cooper did not provide unqualified support to the project. In their letter, they said that the approval should be conditioned by changing the design to the front of the embassy, where the Chinese want to build an area of viewing for cystrical ruins.
The opening of a part of the public complex, they said, would cause security concern and invited China to surround it with a “hard rim.” The Chinese government lawyer told a public investigation that China had no intention of changing the design – by a prominent British architect David Chipperfield – to adapt to the worries of ministers.
In research and demonstration, there was a sensitive feeling that the opponents of the embassy probably lost the battle. Some said their biggest hope is now a change of government in Britain. But Mr. Starmer’s Labor Party does not have to face voters for more than four years.
“The US government would not allow it,” Mr. Golds said. “Can you imagine building a Chinese embassy exactly Wall Street?”
Claire Moses contributions to reporting from London and Keith Bradsher from Beijing.
