A Chinese language bid for a “tremendous embassy” on the positioning on the previous Royal Mint close to Tower Bridge was blocked amid a rising rift between Westminster and Beijing. The Tower Hamlets council voted unanimously to reject planning permission for the brand new multi million pound improvement within the coronary heart of central London.

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The choice is available in the identical week that UK prime minister Rishi Sunak declared that the “golden period” of fine relations with China was over, towards a backdrop of the biggest pro-democracy protests in China since Tiananmen Sq..

Beijing’s new “tremendous embassy” in London can be the biggest of its form in Europe and solely round three miles away from Westminster. The 700,000 sq. ft web site was acquired by China for greater than £255 million in 2018, masking a number of buildings on a plot of land simply north of the Thames. Beijing’s deliberate presence there can be ten instances the dimensions of its present embassy in Marylebone, Telegraph reported.

The event has stirred up large controversy due to considerations about China’s human rights document after pro-democracy protesters had been crushed exterior the Chinese language consulate in Manchester in October.

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This incident was raised by opponents of the “tremendous embassy” improvement on the starting stage, in addition to considerations that the constructing may change into a “secret police station”.

Within the final week, protests have erupted throughout China throughout which a BBC presenter was crushed up by police and subsequently jailed.

Rishi Sunak referred to as the incident “stunning and unacceptable” to which Zhao Lijan, deputy director of China’s ministry of overseas affairs replied by saying that Britain was concerned in a “hypocritical apply of double requirements” and mentioned there had been “a severe distortion of the information and represent a grave interference in China’s inner affairs.”