A British minister has dismissed reported US misgivings about plans for a Chinese ‘super embassy’ near London’s financial districts.
Peter Kyle said that security concerns will be ‘taken care of assiduously in the planning process’, the Sky News reported.
According to The Sunday Times, the White House has warned Downing Street against the proposed massive embassy at Royal Mint Court.
The site is between financial hubs in the City of London and Canary Wharf and close to three data centres, raising concerns about espionage risk.
Asked for the government’s view on the risk, Kyle said: “These issues will be taken care of assiduously in the planning process. But just to reassure people, we deal with embassies and these sorts of infrastructure issues all the time.
“We are very experienced and we are very aware of these sorts of issues constantly, not just when new buildings are being done, but all the time.”
He added that America and Britain ‘share intelligence iteratively’ and if they raise security concerns through the planning process ‘we will have a fulsome response for them’.
However, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said he shared the US concerns. “I agree with the US. We think it is a security risk in the government. The Conservatives were very clear. We should not be allowing the Chinese to build the super embassy. It is likely to become a base for their pan-European espionage activities.”
He added that underneath the sites are cables connecting the City of London to Canary Wharf and these could be intercepted.
&uuid=(email))