The Guardian-China blocking UK plans in Beijing amid east London mega-embassy dispute
November 5, 2024 4 min 719 words
英国《卫报》的这篇报道主要讲的是中国政府在伦敦东区的巨型大使馆争议中阻挠英国重建北京大使馆的计划。报道称，英国副首相兼住房大臣安吉拉雷纳在是否批准中国在皇家铸币厂院落建造新大使馆的计划方面面临着一个棘手的决定。中国政府在至少一年的时间里，以英国阻挠其在伦敦建馆的计划为由，拒绝了英国重建北京大使馆的请求。报道还提到当地居民对中国大使馆建设项目的安全担忧和反对意见，以及塔村区理事会拒绝的理由。 评论：这篇报道体现了西方媒体对中国的一贯偏见。其行文明显带有负面倾向，试图营造一种中国蛮横无理英国受害者般的叙事氛围。报道中大量使用“阻挠”“拒绝”“安全担忧”“愤怒”等负面词语，渲染冲突，而对中国大使馆建设受阻背后的原因和中国政府立场却轻描淡写。此外，报道将大使馆争议与英中关系恶化香港新疆等问题联系起来，显然是企图把中国驻英大使馆项目政治化，影响英国公众对中国的观感。然而，报道本身对英国拒绝中国建馆请求的“安全担忧”等理由缺乏深入分析，仅以“当地居民反对”为由，而没有进一步说明其合理性。该报道的观点是片面的，有失客观。
China is blocking requests to rebuild the British embassy in Beijing while the fate of its controversial mega-embassy in east London is being decided, the Guardian can disclose.
Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister and housing secretary, faces a politically fraught decision over whether to approve plans for a new Chinese embassy at Royal Mint Court.
The Chinese government has resisted UK requests to carry out a major reconstruction of the British embassy in Beijing for at least a year on the basis that its own proposals in east London had been blocked.
Three UK sources with knowledge of the negotiations said the embassy had become a top issue for China in its relations with Britain.
China wants to build a giant complex on 20,000 sq metres of land at Royal Mint Court, a historic site near the Tower of London that it bought six years ago. Tower Hamlets council refused planning permission for the embassy in 2022, citing security concerns and opposition from residents.
By calling in the decision last month, Rayner took it out of the council’s hands, though she has ordered a local inquiry into the matter.
“Until that one gets moving the British embassy in Beijing won’t move,” one source who was involved in the discussions under the Conservatives said. “The grounds for turning it down were pretty spurious … It came about more because they were so angry that [planning permission for the Chinese embassy in London] was just turned down without any support.”
Another source said of the Chinese government’s thinking: “They see it as a reciprocal-type thing where both people want changes, but our system doesn’t really work quite as centrally as theirs does.”
Half a dozen people who have visited or worked in the British embassy in Beijing in the past two years told the Guardian it was in a dire state and in need of major reconstruction. An official who visited the embassy for meetings in the past year said the issue would “come up at every single meeting”.
In a sign that the UK government is hopeful of finding a resolution to the matter, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) submitted a procurement notice in August setting out plans to demolish the embassy in Beijing and rebuild it. The work is estimated to cost about £100m and is subject to local planning permission.
The Chinese government bought the Royal Mint Court site for £255m in 2018 as part of a plan to relocate its embassy from Portland Place near Regent’s Park, where it is housed in a townhouse that has become a target for Uyghur and Tibetan protesters.
After Tower Hamlets declined planning permission and the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, chose not to intervene, China refused to appeal and made it clear to Conservative ministers it wanted them to step in and give assurances they would back a resubmitted application.
Relations between the UK and China were worsening, amid security and hacking concerns, Beijing’s crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong and reports of human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
China’s decision to resubmit its application with no significant changes after Labour won the election marks a shift in relations. Rayner called in the proposal days after David Lammy, the foreign secretary, returned from a trip to China. If approved, the new embassy would be China’s biggest in Europe and almost twice the size of its embassy in Washington.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “Applications for a new Chinese embassy in Tower Hamlets have been called in for ministers to decide. A final decision will be made in due course.”
A statement on the Chinese’s embassy website in August said: “Six years ago, the Chinese government purchased the Royal Mint Court, London, for the use as the new Chinese embassy premises. The UK government had given its consent to this. Now we are in the process of applying for planning permission.
“Host countries have the international obligation to support and facilitate the building of the premises of diplomatic missions. Both China and the UK have the need to build a new embassy in each other’s capital, and the two sides should provide facilitation to each other.”