London, Jan 14: Britain’s government is expected to approve a “mega” Chinese embassy close to London’s financial district after years of controversy and political wrangling over the potential security risks it poses to the UK.

Lawmakers from across the spectrum have urged planning officials to reject China’s application for the new embassy. Critics fear the proposed new building, on a huge site close to London’s financial district and crucial data cables, will be used as a base for espionage. Others say the supersized embassy — set to be the biggest in Europe — will pose a heightened threat of surveillance and intimidation to Chinese dissidents in exile.

The decision was initially slated for October, but it was repeatedly postponed after multiple allegations of Chinese spying and political interference piled pressure on the British government.

British media have reported that the decision to approve the embassy will come this week, ahead of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s expected trip to China. The closely watched visit would be the first made by a British prime minister since 2018.

A final decision on the embassy is expected by Jan. 20, the deadline set by the government.

Here’s a look at why the embassy has been the focus of protests and Sino-British tensions for years:

Close to sensitive infrastructure, potential for protests

The proposed embassy at Royal Mint Court — the former site of the UK’s coin maker, near the Tower of London — will replace several Chinese official buildings across London

Critics say the new site sits too close to underground fiber optic cables carrying sensitive financial information between London’s two main financial districts.

Conservative Party lawmaker Alicia Kearns said that risks handing over access to data that would give China’s government “a launchpad for economic warfare against our nation.”

Dissidents have also been among hundreds of people who have protested the plans, saying a mega-embassy housing large numbers of officials would further China’s repression of activists abroad.

A group of opposition Labour lawmakers say concerns include “the recent track record of Chinese espionage cases, interference activities and issuing of bounties against UK-based Hong Kongers.”

The site was bought by China’s government for 225 million pounds ($301 million) in 2018, but plans for the embassy have been delayed since.

Local officials rejected the initial application over concerns that the embassy would attract many large protests, affecting the safety of residents and tourists. China resubmitted its proposals after the current Labour government took power last year.

China’s warnings

China has complained about the seven-year delay in approving the project, saying the UK was “constantly complicating and politicizing the matter.”

“The development scheme of the new Chinese Embassy is of high quality and has been highly recognized by local professional bodies,” the Chinese embassy said in a statement in October. “The application complies with diplomatic practice and local regulations and procedures.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian has warned that if the embassy isn’t approved, “the consequences arising therefrom shall be borne by the UK side.”

Growing spying concerns

Recent high-profile cases involving alleged Chinese espionage have raised alarms about the embassy.

In November, the domestic intelligence agency, MI5, issued an alert to lawmakers warning that Chinese agents were making “targeted and widespread” efforts to recruit and cultivate them using LinkedIn or cover companies.

Authorities believe the alleged “headhunters” were trying to gain access to sensitive information about Parliament and Britain’s government.

Beijing has strongly denied the claims, calling them “pure fabrication and malicious slander.”

Earlier, Britain’s government faced questions on whether it had interfered in the trial of two alleged Chinese spies in order to preserve good ties with China.

Former parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash and academic Christopher Berry were charged last year with spying for Beijing. But their trial collapsed at the last minute because the UK government refused to brand China a threat to national security, the country’s chief prosecutor said.

Starmer has insisted on engagement

Facing criticism that he is not taking a tough enough stance on the security risks, Starmer has stressed that while protecting national security is non-negotiable, Britain needs to keep up diplomatic dialogue and cooperation with the Asian superpower.

“This is not a question of balancing economic and security considerations. We don’t trade off security in one area, for a bit more economic access somewhere else,” he has said.

Last year, Starmer said Chinese President Xi Jinping personally raised the matter during a phone call.

Opposition lawmaker Priti Patel derided Starmer as “Beijing’s useful idiot in Britain.”

“Starmer’s reset’ with Beijing is a naive one-way street, which puts Britain at risk while Beijing gets everything it wants,” she said.

Washington, Jan 14: The United States has designated the Egyptian, Lebanese and Jordanian branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as “terrorist organisations”, citing in part what it described as their support for the Hamas terror group, in a move that is set to impose sweeping sanctions on one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements.

The decision, which Washington formally initiated in November last year, will trigger financial and travel restrictions against the three branches.

The US Treasury Department on Tuesday (local time) said it has designated the chapters as specially designated global terrorists, accusing them of supporting or encouraging violent terror attacks against Israel and American partners in the region.

“Chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood purport to be legitimate civic organisations while, behind the scenes, they explicitly and enthusiastically support terrorist groups like Hamas,” the Treasury Department said in a statement announcing the designations.

As a consequence of the move, the United States will block any assets held by the Muslim Brotherhood within the world’s largest economy and criminalise transactions involving the group or its affiliates.

The designation also significantly restricts the ability of members to travel to the United States.

Egypt’s foreign ministry welcomed the decision, calling it a “crucial step that reflects the gravity of the group and its extremist ideology and what it represents as a direct threat to regional and international security and stability.”

Founded in Egypt in 1928, the pan-Islamist Muslim Brotherhood once expanded its influence across much of the Arab world.

In recent years, however, the movement has faced sustained pressure and crackdowns by several major Arab governments, leading to a gradual decline in its political reach and organisational strength.

The Brotherhood briefly rose to power in its home country through democratic means following the 2012 election of Mohamed Morsi, which came after the overthrow of longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Mubarak had formally banned the Muslim Brotherhood, though some of its activities, including its extensive network of social services, were tolerated.

Morsi was removed from office in 2013 in a coup led by then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has since overseen a wide-ranging crackdown on the organisation.

Egypt, along with US allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has long sought to suppress the Muslim Brotherhood, whose ideological vision calls for the establishment of a unified Islamic caliphate.

The US decision to designate the branches was taken in part on the basis of their alleged support for Hamas, according to American officials.

The Treasury Department said the Egyptian and Jordanian branches of the Brotherhood had coordinated with Hamas, whose large-scale October 7, 2023, attack on Israel sparked a devastating Israeli military offensive in Gaza.

The US State Department, meanwhile, said that in Lebanon, the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Muslim movement, had allied itself with the Hezbollah terror group in launching rockets into Israel.

The Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood has “pushed for a more formal alignment with the Hizballah-Hamas axis”, the State Department said, underlining Washington’s concerns over the group’s regional alliances.

In Jordan, the Muslim Brotherhood had gained significant influence, with its political wing emerging as the main opposition party in parliament.

However, in April last year, Jordan banned the organisation and ordered the confiscation of its assets after accusing it of stockpiling weapons and plotting to destabilise the kingdom, which maintains a peace treaty with Israel.

In the United States, the Muslim Brotherhood has also been the subject of intense political debate in recent years.

Some conservative groups and lawmakers have promoted claims, widely regarded as unfounded, that the organisation is attempting to infiltrate the US government with the aim of imposing Islamic sharia law.

Republican legislators have repeatedly pushed for a formal ban on the Brotherhood, arguing that such a move would cut off potential funding channels.