A HIDDEN underground room planned beneath China’s vast new London super embassy has sparked fresh fears of spying at the very heart of Britain’s financial system.
Explosive documents uncovered by The Telegraph show a concealed chamber being built just metres from fibre optic cables carrying the City of London’s most sensitive financial data, emails and internet traffic used by millions.
Despite the risks, Keir Starmer’s Labour government is expected to wave the project through, just weeks before the Prime Minister is due to fly to Beijing to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Critics say the timing is dangerous and they warn Britain could be sleepwalking into a national security nightmare.
SECRET ROOMS AND SILENCED PLANS
The plans reveal an underground complex of 208 rooms beneath the former Royal Mint site in central London, set to become China’s largest embassy in Europe.
Public versions of the plans were heavily censored. But The Telegraph obtained unredacted documents, lifting the lid on what Beijing did not want anyone to see.
At the centre of the row is one concealed triangular chamber, up to 40 metres across, sitting directly alongside key fibre optic cables under Mansell Street, close enough to touch.
Those cables carry banking transactions, salaries, online payments and high level financial data between the City, Canary Wharf, major data centres and transatlantic links to the United States. Telecoms firms whose cables run past the site include BT Openreach, Colt Technologies and Verizon Business. Experts say access to those lines would be a goldmine for any hostile state.
RED FLAGS ALL OVER
The unredacted drawings show the embassy plans include demolishing and rebuilding the outer basement wall right next to the cables, placing Chinese contractors little more than a metre away.
The same room includes hot air extraction systems, suggesting heat generating equipment, such as advanced computer systems.
Professor Alan Woodward, a cybersecurity expert at the University of Surrey, said the basement works were a “red flag”.
“China won’t say what the basement is for. It could be legitimate classified communications equipment, but that can hide a multitude of sins,” he said.
“If they wanted to tap the cables, they wouldn’t need to go far. You wouldn’t know what was happening down there.”
He added, “There’s a long history of cable tapping by East and West alike. Anyone who can do it has done it. Economic intelligence is central to foreign espionage.”
LABOUR NODDING IT THROUGH
The plans come as Sir Keir Starmer is expected to approve the embassy before travelling to China later this month. Shadow national security minister Alicia Kearns did not mince her words.
She said approving the embassy would hand China “a launchpad for economic warfare at the heart of the central nervous system of our critical national infrastructure”.
“The unredacted plans reveal a concealed room running immediately alongside the fibre optic cables critical to the City and Canary Wharf,” she said.
“Telegraph readers don’t need me to spell out the obvious threats posed, nor China’s subterfuge, so why does the Labour Government?”
China first floated the idea under the Conservatives but Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser, claimed MI5 and MI6 warned him China was “trying to build a spy centre underneath the embassy”.
Angela Rayner was forced to delay approval when she was housing secretary, demanding more clarity after China cited “security reasons” for blacking out key details. Now, thanks to the Telegraph those details are out in the open.
MORE THAN JUST ONE ROOM
The plans also show emergency generators, power systems, lift shafts, communications cabling, showers and bathrooms underground, suggesting staff could remain below ground for long periods.
There are tunnels linking buildings, a massive underground car park and secure rooms hidden behind winding corridors and multiple doors.
The site borders the Wapping Telephone Exchange and sits among a dense web of data links serving hundreds of City firms, including Lloyd’s of London, and landmarks such as the Gherkin.
Security experts say any nation state would be tempted to snoop on such traffic, especially one whose relations with Britain are already strained.
GOVERNMENT SHRUG
A Government spokesman said, “National security is our first duty and government security experts have been involved throughout the process so far.
“All the security implications of the planning application have been identified and addressed. An independent planning decision will be made in due course.”
China’s London embassy did not respond to requests for comment.
BT Openreach said it has “robust security measures in place” and works with the Government to protect its assets. But critics remain unconvinced.
They warn that once the concrete is poured and the embassy doors open, Britain may have handed a hostile power unprecedented proximity to the digital arteries that keep the country running.
And by then, it could be far too late to turn back.
Worth reading in full here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/12/revealed-china-embassy-secret-plans-spy-basement/
