Dutch sound alarm on Chinese super-embassy in London

For years, Steerpike has been warning about the dangers of a new Chinese ‘super-embassy’ being built in Tower Hamlets. Located on the site of Britain’s old Royal Mint, there are plans to build Beijing’s largest overseas outpost, sitting opposite the Tower of London. Local residents, many of whom are Uighur Muslim, are viscerally opposed, while the Met has major security concerns about the site becoming a magnet for anti-China protests too. Quelle surprise…

Having ignored all domestic opposition to this plan, pig-headed officials might now be willing to take advice from candid friends from overseas. This weekend, it was the Americans sounding the alarm in the Sunday Times, amid fears that the building could effectively become a nest of spies in the heart of London. And today, Mr S can bring warnings from across the English Channel. For it seems the Dutch – British allies since the Glorious Revolution of 1688 – are up in arms now too.

There is now a cross-party effort in the Netherlands to raise concerns about sensitive cabling that runs under the proposed embassy site. Lawmakers fear the impact that potential Chinese espionage could have on links between the City of London and Amsterdam’s internet exchange, fintech and banking sector. They are calling on the Dutch government to raise concerns in European Foreign Affairs Council. So much for Keir Starmer’s talk of being good Europeans…

A series of questions will be formally tabled tomorrow in the House of Representatives by Jan Paternotte MP and other allies. They will ask ministers about the ‘potential impact of Chinese interceptions of data traffic in London on the security and integrity of Dutch financial institutions’ and ask if Dutch security services are ‘currently conducting structural assessments of the proximity between diplomatic premises and vital infrastructure.’ Paternotte told Steerpike:

While UK planning decisions should obviously be a matter for the UK Government, we must also defend our interests where our allies are considering  taking decisions which impact us. Not only could the mega embassy affect Dutch financial services, but the possibility of London becoming the headquarters of the Chinese Communist Party’s interference operations in Europe is cause for significant concern.

This afternoon Lindsay Hoyle has granted an Urgent Question in the House on the Chinese super-embassy, following the Sunday Times report. Over to you ministers…