China embassy security risk is inevitable, warns M15

Plans for a controversial Chinese “super-embassy” in London have been approved by the government, despite warnings from MI5 that it cannot “eliminate every potential risk” posed by the new site.

- ATHENA STAVROU POLITICAL REPORTER

Local government secretary Steve Reed gave the green light to a planning application yesterday, undeterred by fears it could become a “colossal spy hub” for Beijing, and warnings from international allies.

MI5 director general Sir Ken McCallum and GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler, warned the home secretary and foreign secretary that national security risks linked to the new embassy, at the former Royal Mint near the Tower of London, cannot be wholly eliminated.

In a joint letter to Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, and Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, they said: “MI5 has over 100 years of experience managing national security risks associated with foreign diplomatic premises in London.

“For the Royal Mint Court site, as with any foreign embassy on UK soil, it is not realistic to expect to be able wholly to eliminate each and every potential risk. (And even if this were a practicable goal, it would be irrational to drive 'embassy-generated risk' down to zero when numerous other threat vectors are so central to the national security risks we face in the present era.”

However, they added that efforts to mitigate national security risks had been “expert, professional and proportionate”.

Beijing’s proposals for the building are reported to include 208 secret rooms and a hidden chamber in the basement.

Those opposed to the plans fear the hidden chamber would be located in close proximity to data cables used by Britain’s financial industry for communications between the City of London and Canary Wharf.