Thousands of people gathered in London on Saturday to meet with China's planned “Mega Embassy” project.
The protesters called Chinese human rights abuses against oppressed groups like Uyghurs and Tibetans, saying mega embassy could become the headquarters for surveillance of overseas dissidents.
China already has a fully functional embassy in London, but in 2018 the Chinese government bought it Royal Mint CoatThe historical structure began in the 14th century as a monastery for the strict order of the Catholic monk Ks, known as the Cistercians.
As the name suggests, the monastery became a major location for the Royal Mints of England from 1810 to 1975. Royal Mint closed its last office on the site in 2000.
The Chinese government decided that the current embassy in London no longer reflects China's growing wealth and power, so it announced ambitious plans to purchase the Royal Mint Coat somewhere north of $330 million and renovate the structure into the world's largest embassy. The residential space on the premises will be a residential area with approximately 225 embassy staff.
China's plan quickly proved to be controversial for both local residents and critics of the Chinese communist regime. That's what the first two renovation plans were like It was rejected The UK national government has stepped in to keep the project alive, as it hopes to maintain good relations with China, and as it hopes to build its own impressive embassy in Beijing.
Chinese dictator XI Jinping reportedly complained about delays in the embassy project in a July call with British Prime Minister Kiel Kiel Starnemar. Chinese officials have shown that the UK's plan to rebuild the embassy in Beijing will not move forward until the Chinese magazine in London has final approval.
Chinese officials also sought to grease the wheels of the project by sending gifts to members of the London District Council and arranging British companies doing business in China to lobby the UK government on behalf of the embassy project. Council members accused them of heavy pressure from the city and the central government to reverse their decision to block China's projects.
In early 2025, almost all official and procedural objections to China's Mega Enbassy Project were withdrawn, except for security concerns regarding several British government communications cables passing under the royal Mint courts, as well as concerns over ancient bodies buried at the site of a longtime abandoned monastery.
Human rights and privacy concerns regarding China's communist government remain so unresolved that major protests against the embassy project took place in February and again last weekend. Critics cite the possibility of traffic congestion from regular protests outside the embassy as a good reason to prevent the embassy project from moving forward.
“This is not just a building. It is an extension of the Chinese Communist Party's power in the UK,” says Chloe Chen, of the Hong Kong Foundation's Democracy Commission for Freedom. I said At the meeting in February.
Cheung warned that China could use the embassy for “voicing of control, fear and silence.” Many of the demonstrators in both February and March were persecuted minorities, like Chen himself, from opposition groups and persecuted minorities with good reason to fear that Beijing might spy on them or target them for threats.
Organizers said Saturday's protest included around 6,000 attendees, waving slogans like “we're not at China's new mega embassy spy base in London” and “China cannot be trusted.” Winnie-the-Pooh was notable in protest banners and pamphlets, hinting at the Chinese censorship and the rog haughtyness of Xi Jinping. It's winnie the pooh Prohibited This is because in China, a 10-year-old meme compares well-raised Chinese dictators with honey-loving bears.
