{"id":1175,"date":"2025-08-23T00:53:45","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T00:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=1175"},"modified":"2025-08-23T00:53:45","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T00:53:45","slug":"china-refuses-to-explain-greyed-out-parts-of-london-embassy-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=1175","title":{"rendered":"China refuses to explain \u2018greyed out\u2019 parts of London embassy plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description o3-type-body-base\"><span>Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=1c85300d-af36-4c49-9a45-8ebcc1c6a006\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>China has refused to give details of its plans for a \u201cmega\u201d embassy in London after the UK demanded additional information about greyed-out areas contained in several of its drawings, arguing the request was not \u201cappropriate\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said the Chinese embassy must provide unredacted drawings of the project or \u201cidentify precisely and comprehensively\u201d the parts that had been withheld.<\/p>\n<p>Two buildings featured in the blueprints submitted to the government, the Cultural Exchange Building and Embassy House, had been \u201cgreyed out\u201d, according to Rayner\u2019s housing department.<\/p>\n<p>Representatives for the Chinese government wrote to Rayner on Wednesday, arguing the \u201capplicant does not consider that, as a matter of principle, it is necessary or appropriate to provide full internal layout plans\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009in order to understand what has been permitted\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe level of detail provided is entirely consistent with established planning norms and sufficient for the purpose of understanding what has been permitted,\u201d they wrote in a letter shared with the Financial Times. <\/p>\n<p>The representatives also pushed back against a request for a wall to be built around a paved area in front of the building to ensure safe access. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"n-content-image n-content-image--full\" data-component=\"image-set\"><picture><source media=\"(min-width: 700px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/ftcms%3A83591f7b-c22b-4534-9f89-1953237b5434?source=next-article&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;quality=highest&amp;width=700&amp;dpr=1 1x,https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/ftcms%3A83591f7b-c22b-4534-9f89-1953237b5434?source=next-article&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;quality=highest&amp;width=700&amp;dpr=2 2x,https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/ftcms%3A83591f7b-c22b-4534-9f89-1953237b5434?source=next-article&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;quality=highest&amp;width=700&amp;dpr=3 3x\" width=\"2288\" height=\"1526\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F83591f7b-c22b-4534-9f89-1953237b5434.jpg?source=next-article&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;quality=highest&amp;width=700&amp;dpr=1\" alt=\"Protesters hold signs reading \u201cAngela Rayner Say No to China\u2019s Super Embassy\u201d and \u201cBig Xi Is Watching You\u201d during a demonstration.\" data-image-type=\"image\" width=\"2288\" height=\"1526\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"n-content-picture__caption o3-editorial-typography-caption\"><span>People protest against the embassy plan in London in February<\/span><span> <!-- -->\u00a9 Stephen Chung\/Alamy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The planned embassy \u2014 which would be the largest in Europe, located opposite the Tower of London on a 5-acre site \u2014 has caused considerable controversy, with China hawks warning it poses a significant threat to national security.<\/p>\n<p>Luke de Pulford, executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a long-standing critic of plans for the embassy, described the response from China as akin to \u201ctrust me bro, it\u2019ll be all right\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Chinese side has refused to explain the redacted mega-embassy drawings,\u201d he wrote on X, adding they had also declined \u201cto build a wall to allow safe access to the historic ruins\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe application for this disastrous embassy must be refused,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The Chinese embassy said the planning application for the new embassy \u201chas followed international practices as well as the local protocol and procedures\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoth China and the UK plan to build new embassies in each other\u2019s capitals, and both sides should facilitate each other\u2019s efforts,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n<p>The US has previously expressed \u201cdeep\u201d concern over the site\u2019s proximity to key telecommunication cables.<\/p>\n<p>The Home Office had also requested a \u201chard perimeter\u201d around the embassy site because of concerns over access to a paved area directly in front of the proposed building, according to Rayner\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n<p>The representatives for the Chinese government responded by noting it would not \u201cclaim diplomatic inviolability for the paved area outside the pavilion\u201d, with a view to allowing British personnel access.<\/p>\n<p>The UK on Friday said it would push back its decision on China\u2019s planning application to October 21.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>#China #refuses #explain #greyed #parts #London #embassy #plan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. China has refused to give details of its plans for a \u201cmega\u201d embassy in London after the UK demanded additional information about greyed-out areas contained in several of its drawings, arguing the request was not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[163,797,794,795,313,796,704,793],"class_list":{"0":"post-1175","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-china","9":"tag-embassy","10":"tag-explain","11":"tag-greyed","12":"tag-london","13":"tag-parts","14":"tag-plan","15":"tag-refuses"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}