The Bank of England has warned Downing Street against allowing a Chinese embassy to be built near sensitive financial centres in London, Donald Trump’s security advisers have revealed.
The plan for the ‘super embassy’ was blocked by the previous government amid British intelligence warnings about its location and espionage risk, but has now been revived.
Mapping data shows the proposed site lies directly between financial hubs in the City and Canary Wharf and close to three major data centres.
Downing Street refused to say if it was backing the embassy plans to boost trading relations with the Chinese.
Within a fortnight of Chancellor Rachel Reeves returning from an official visit to China this year, both Scotland Yard and Tower Hamlets Council mysteriously dropped their objections to the project.
The Bank of England has warned Downing Street against allowing a Chinese embassy to be built near sensitive financial centres in London , Donald Trump ’s security advisers have revealed. Pictured: Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves
The plan for the ‘super embassy’ was blocked by the previous government amid British intelligence warnings about its location and espionage risk, but has now been revived. Pictured: Royal Mint Court, the site of the proposed new Chinese Embassy in London
Diplomats say President Trump’s administration would have reservations about sharing intelligence with the UK if the embassy opened
Now the Bank of England’s opposition to building the embassy has been revealed by American intelligence sources to justify the US’s own concerns. Diplomats say President Trump’s administration would have reservations about sharing intelligence with the UK if the embassy opened.
Documents obtained by the Conservatives also reveal Innovate UK, the Government’s experts on cyber-physical infrastructure, warned the local authority ‘is woefully unprepared to handle an application of this nature’, as a BT telephone exchange serving the City is adjacent to the site.
A Chinese embassy spokesman dismissed the espionage claims, saying: ‘Anti-China elements are always keen on slandering and attacking China.’
A spokesman for the Bank of England declined to comment.
