Showdown looms over China’s new ‘super-embassy’

All eyes tonight will be on Rishi Sunak when he addresses the annual Lord Mayor’s Banquet. The Prime Minister is expected to give his first major speech on foreign policy in which he will pledge to treat Britain’s adversaries in Beijing and Moscow with ‘robust pragmatism.’ Such talk is likely to be read in the Westminster village as a signal that Sunak will likely prioritise economic benefits when it comes to relations with countries such as China.

So it’s fitting then that a perfect symbol of such co-operation is found just a mile away from London’s Guildhall in the borough of Tower Hamlets. Here, on the site of the nation’s old Royal Mint, there are plans to build the world’s largest Chinese embassy, sitting opposite the Tower of London. The People’s Republic of China handed over £255 million to become the landlord of the historic 700,000 ft site back in 2018.