The White House has warned the British government against building a "super-colony" of China near the important financial centers of London, expressing concern about Beijing's potential access to "confidential communications of one of our closest allies," a senior US official told The Times.
Answering the question about the possible impact of the approval of the construction of the building on the trade deal between Britain and the United States, the interlocutor of the publication said: "The United States expects that all decisions will be made taking into account the interests of our (both US and UK) national security and after careful reduction (of threats), as recommended and approved by counterintelligence professionals."
The Times suggests that this is a "veiled threat."
Britain became the first country with which the United States concluded a trade deal after the announced "mirror" duties (for London, the rate was 10%). US President Donald Trump said that the agreement would strengthen the national security of both the United States and Britain "by creating a trade zone for aluminum and steel, as well as a secure supply chain for pharmaceutical products."
According to the Times, Trump called on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to refuse permission to open the Chinese embassy, and this issue was raised at trade talks. According to diplomats, the White House will object to the exchange of intelligence with London in the event of the opening of a diplomatic mission.
We are talking about the site of the Royal Mint, which was sold to Beijing for the embassy in 2018. It is located near the Tower of London and the business center of the City, as well as from three important data centers, the newspaper notes.
The previous British government blocked a plan to build Europe's largest embassy because of warnings from British intelligence about the risk of espionage. Residents of the Tower Hamlets area, where the building should be located, also opposed this.
The current government has stipulated the creation of a rigid perimeter with "periodic controlled public access" as a condition for construction. British Foreign and Interior Ministers David Lammy and Yvette Cooper explained that restricting access to Cistercian ruins located on the territory of the Royal Mint could prevent emergency services, such as an ambulance brigade, from entering this area, the Financial Times wrote. Beijing refused to follow this condition.
The Times notes that earlier the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac) sent to The US National Security Council has a memorandum stating that "secret cables" under the potential territory of the embassy "feed the City of London" — the center of financial services in the UK.
Republican member of the US House of Representatives John Mulenar noted that "the placement of the Chinese Embassy of unprecedented size over confidential cables that support US financial systems and In the UK, it would pose an unacceptable risk to our institutions."
A representative of the Chinese embassy had previously denied accusations of espionage, the Times said.