At the eleventh hour, protesters against China’s planned London mega embassy/spy center/transnational repression center, to be constructed within surveillance distance of “sensitive data cables,” are not giving up.
Sky News reports that hundreds of protesters “marched to oppose plans for a Chinese super embassy in London on Saturday, with Kemi Badenoch leading calls to block the proposal” (January 17, 2026).
Crowds were warned plain clothes Chinese police officers were among those gathered at the site of the former Royal Mint.
It was the last chance for demonstrators to voice their concerns ahead of the government’s decision on the controversial planning application on Tuesday.
Chants of “mega embassy, mega mistake”, “don’t bow to China” and “no mega embassy” rang out, while protesters raised their middle fingers towards the huge site.
The location between the financial districts of the City of London and Canary Wharf has raised security concerns the embassy will be used as a spy hub, while dissidents fear it will be used as a base for repression.
CNN:
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch urged the Labour Party government to reject the plans, saying the Chinese government had “harassed and sanctioned” members of Parliament and “abused British nationals connected to China.”
“We know that we have to stand up to the abuses of China. And what worries me is that we have a government right now that seems to be scared of China,” she told hundreds of demonstrators who gathered at the site, chanting, “No China mega-embassy.”…
After years of delays and legal challenges, the government has set a deadline of Tuesday to decide whether to approve plans for the largest Chinese embassy in Europe on the former site of the Royal Mint, near Tower Bridge. The government is widely expected to green-light the development….
Ciaran Martin, the former head of Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre—part of the GCHQ intelligence agency—said that no British government would override the security services if they said that the project was too risky.
A conservative MP, Iain Duncan Smith, is not reassured by the somnolence of Britain’s security services. He told Sky News: “The reality is that many in the security services know what the threat is, but they’re also kiboshed by the Foreign Office and the government.”
The protesters have not been shy in their messaging. One of their hand-made posters (shown above) presents a Winnie the Pooh figure, Xi, hugging what seems to be a sketch of a submissive Keir Starmer. In another rendering, the People’s Republic of China and/or the Chinese Communist Party is depicted as a demon. One sign says “Protect our optic cable.”
Full speed ahead
Despite all the opposition, including from Labour MPs, Downing Street is expected to give the go-ahead on January 20, 2026. UK officials have dotted all their t’s and crossed all their i’s and resolved (ignored) all doubts. Now nothing remains to do but complete this particular surrender and move on to preparations for the next surrender.
The only argument in favor of letting the mega embassy be built is that if the UK government does not let it be built, the gangster-run People’s Republic of China will get mad. If China gets mad, things would probably be more uncomfortable for Prime Minister Starmer than expected during his meeting with China boss Xi Jinping, later in January. The meeting might even get canceled. UK-China trade negotiations might implode.
The arguments against the mega embassy—the surveillance and espionage threat, the threat to Chinese nationals living in the UK—have never been answered. The UK government is working for the enemy.
