UK delays Chinese embassy ruling after Beijing withholds detail

23/8/2025 17:00

The British government on Friday extended the deadline until October to decide on whether to approve China's plans to build the largest embassy in Europe in London after Beijing refused to fully explain why the plans contained blacked out areas.



China's plans to build a new embassy on the site of a two-century-old building near the Tower of London have stalled for the past three years because of opposition from local residents, lawmakers, and Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigners in Britain.



Politicians in Britain and the U.S. have warned the government against allowing China to build the embassy on the site over concerns that it could be used as a base for spying.



DP9, the planning consultancy working for the Chinese government, said its client felt it would be inappropriate to provide full internal layout plans, saying additional drawings provided an acceptable level of detail, after the government asked why several areas were blacked out in drawings.



The British government's department of housing said in reply it would now rule on whether the project can go ahead by October 21 rather than by September 9 because it needed more time to consider the responses.