UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would not be “pushed around” by China over the controversial new embassy in London, in response to fresh threats from Beijing.
“The decision on the embassy will be taken in the proper way regardless of any views or pressure from anyone,” he said.
China's ambitious project, often dubbed a “super-embassy,” plans to relocate and expand its diplomatic mission in London from its current location to a massive new complex at Royal Mint Court. Once built, it would be the largest embassy in Europe—and one of the biggest diplomatic missions globally.
Due to national security concerns, the UK government has delayed the final decision multiple times. Originally slated for Sept. 9, it was pushed to Oct. 21, then to Dec. 10.
The UK's caution has raised Beijing's ire. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Lin Jian, said that the British government has a “disregard for contractual spirit, acting in bad faith and without integrity,” and that “otherwise the British side shall bear all consequences.”
"Sometimes our water supply goes 'missing' which is an interesting way of putting it. They are using our embassy to force us to do something about their embassy." the source said, "This behaviour is not very sporting or diplomatic."
China has also stepped up other pressure on the UK. On Monday, the Ministry of Commerce urged Britain to lift the sanctions it imposed on 11 Chinese firms over “alleged connections” with Russia a fortnight ago, saying the move could damage UK-China relations and urging London to “immediately correct its mistake.”
Adopting a tougher stance on China than previously, Starmer told Bloomberg that Beijing should halt purchases of Russian oil to help Ukraine’s allies increase pressure on the Kremlin over its invasion. He revealed that he had discussed the matter with President Donald Trump before Trump’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week.
Regarding China’s increasingly weaponized rare earths in geopolitical tensions, the latest escalation—announced on Oct. 9—sees China expanding export restrictions, effectively requiring Western companies to share proprietary data to maintain access. Starmer also expressed his concern.
He said in the interview that he considered it a strategic issue that they would address with other countries, adding that they had discussed it quite extensively at the G-7 in Canada earlier that year, particularly in terms of how the G-7 countries work together on things like rare earths, “because we need to.”