White House 'deeply concerned' about Chinese super-embassy's secret rooms
The White House is “deeply concerned” by Labour’s plan to approve a Chinese “super-embassy” with a secret basement metres from sensitive cables.
A senior Trump administration official raised fears that China could exploit the UK’s critical infrastructure after The Telegraph on Monday revealed unredacted drawings showing 208 secret rooms beneath the site of the old Royal Mint in central London.
One of the sections reveals an underground chamber measuring up to 40 metres across and two to three metres deep, which will sit alongside fibre-optic cables transmitting data between the City of London and Canary Wharf.
Despite the apparent security risk, Sir Keir Starmer is expected to approve the embassy before the Jan 20 deadline.
But Labour backbenchers condemned the proposed development on Tuesday, telling Sir Keir not to reward China’s “bullying” by signing off the plans.
Matthew Pennycook, the planning minister, also declined to answer whether any minister had seen the unredacted plans before they were published by The Telegraph.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2026/01/13/us-trump-china-mega-embassy-uk/