‘I fled Hong Kong for my safety – China’s super-embassy will mean more espionage’

Dissidents who fled China to the UK say Keir Starmer is ‘playing into Beijing’s hands’ after the government approved a hugely controversial super-embassy in London.

Plans to convert the Royal Mint in Tower Hamlets, which is near top financial centres and critical communication cables, have been green-lit today despite widespread security concerns.

People living in the area have already pledged to take the government’s decision to court after years of voicing their fears of espionage.

But none are more worried than those who fled the authoritarianism of Beijing to the UK – only to end up with China building the largest embassy in Europe on their doorstep.

Chung Ching Kwong, who lives in London after leaving Hong Kong, told Metro: ‘As a dissident, I am now very uncomfortable here. I fled my home city for my safety and for my chance to exercise my freedom of speech.

‘But this new embassy is just an example of China trying to subject us to the long arms of the state. It is a really bad decision.’

Chung Ching, who works as a senior analyst for the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, accused the government of not paying enough attention to the threats the embassy pose.

In 2022, a Hong Kong protester was seen being dragged into the Chinese consulate in Manchester before he was beaten up, sparking a diplomatic incident.

Chung Ching added: ‘The facts don’t lie. When there is more Chinese diplomacy on the ground, espionage goes up.

‘I have worked for independent Hong Kong organisations which makes me a criminal for “colluding with foreign forces”. I can never go back.’

In Denmark, intelligence agencies confirmed a state-sponsored Chinese hack group Salt Typhoon targeted Dutch internet providers in 2024.

Chung Ching said: ‘It is hardly beyond imagination that China will try and utilise the communication cables outside of the super-embassy for surveillance.’

MI5 has warned that it is ‘not realistic to expect to be able wholly to eliminate each and every potential risk’ linked to China’s new London embassy, its director general Sir Ken McCallum warned in a joint letter with GCHQ’s director to the Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary.

Clara, who also fled Hong Kong to the UK five years ago, said Starmer is on the side of China to help boost his future trade deal as he prepares his state visit there.

She now believes he should cancel the trip in a show of support to democracy, rather than totalitarianism.

‘I left Hong Kong to protect my freedom and those of my two children. In coming to the UK, I hoped to go somewhere that valued freedom of expression and democracy,’ she said.

‘But this seems like the complete opposite. Democracy starts at the bottom and the people of Tower Hamlets rejected these plans all the way back in 2022.’

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