Hongkongers will ‘live in fear’ of new Chinese embassy, Labour MP warns

Other Labour backbenchers warned that the new embassy in the heart of London will have a “chilling effect” on Hongkongers, Tibetans, Uyghurs and Chinese dissidents in the UK, and that local residents are worried about losing their homes.

Meanwhile, former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who has been sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), also raised concerns that transnational repression will get worse if embassy staff numbers increase.

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Labour MP Alex Sobel (Leeds Central and Headingley) said: “I don’t agree with this decision today.

“It will send a chilling effect through Tibetans, through Hongkongers, through Uyghurs and other Chinese who just dissent with the regime in Beijing.”

Security minister Dan Jarvis said he disagreed, because there are national security advantages associated with the plan, which involves consolidating China’s diplomatic premises from seven sites into a single location.

Labour MP Mark Sewards said the Government’s assurances that national security concerns have been mitigated will be “cold comfort” to Hongkongers suffering from transnational repression.

He raised the case of Chloe Cheung, a 19-year-old pro-democracy activist, who moved to the UK with her family in 2021 under a special scheme for Hongkongers, and has since had a bounty put on her head.

Mr Sewards said: “Even if we accept that the national security concerns of this new embassy have been mitigated, as evidenced by the letters from security agencies today, and even if we accept that consolidating these seven current properties that China own into one is a security advantage, that is still cold comfort to the Hong Kongers that I represent in Leeds South West and Morley.

“They still have to live with transnational repression. In the case of Chloe Cheung, she still has to live with (a) £100,000 bounty on her head.

“And of course, they now still have to live in fear that this new embassy might become their prison.”

Responding, Mr Jarvis said: “I don’t accept the basis of the argument that (he) has made, and I think he would be well-advised to place more emphasis on the point about consolidation, because I’m confident that that will deliver meaningful operational benefits, and that’s a point that’s been agreed by the security experts.”

Labour MP Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Stepney) said: “Many of my constituents will continue to have serious concerns about the proposed new embassy in my constituency.

“These include China’s human rights record, espionage and local disruption in particular.

“A development at this scale would cause significant disruption for local residents, especially in Royal Mint Court, who are now facing considerable uncertainty, including privacy concerns and fear of losing their homes.”

Mr Jarvis said there are “limits” as to what he can say regarding specific measures and mitigations that will be put in place, but promised to “work very closely with her to minimise any disruption to local residents”.

He added that it is “unacceptable” for China to seek to persecute individuals resident in the UK and that the Government is tackling that with its Defending Democracy Task Force.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain questioned the minister on the Government’s assertion that there is no suggestion that “lawful embassy use” of the site could lead to interference with sensitive telecommunications cabling nearby.

He said: “Nothing about the Chinese is lawful here in the United Kingdom.

“Is it lawful for them to attack Hongkongers who have fled here? Is it lawful for the pop-up police stations that go on pulling them in? Is it lawful for them to actually make sure that bounties are placed on our heads?

“Is it lawful for them to be asking British citizens sitting next door to Hong Kongers to bring them into the embassy so they may collect their bounty? These are all unlawful acts.

“The truth is, this Chinese Embassy, with its 200 extra staff, will increase that. Every single place that China has had more people in its embassy, transnational repression has increased.”

Responding, Mr Jarvis said that it is “intolerable and unacceptable” that Sir Iain and his family have been sanctioned, but said there was “never going to be scenario where I would be able to satisfy (him) today”.

He added: “UK law is absolutely sacrosanct, and where anyone, whoever they might be, falls short of that, they will be held to account by this Government.”

Regarding the increase in staff, he said: “There are very clear procedures that rest with the Foreign Office, that where a foreign nation seeks to bring additional staff resource into a country, all of that has to go through the normal diplomatic channels and has to be agreed by the Foreign Secretary.”

Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokeswoman Lisa Smart branded the plans for the new Chinese super-embassy a “mistake” and accused ministers of learning “very little” from evidence of Chinese spying efforts.

She said: “The Government knows that these decisions that they have made today will further amplify China’s surveillance efforts here in the UK, endangering the security of our data.”

Responding, Mr Jarvis said: “An extensive range of measures have been developed and are being implemented to protect national security, including putting in place additional resilience measures to protect sensitive data.”

However, he insisted it was would be “unwise” to “get into the technical detail of the mitigations that we’re seeking to put in place”.

Conservative MP Sir Julian Lewis (New Forest East), a former chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, said he disproves of the word “mitigation” because it “covers such a wide range of sins”.

He added that the decision on the embassy is a “colossal propaganda win for totalitarian communist China”.