The British government’s department of housing said in reply it would now rule on whether the project can go ahead by Oct 21 rather than by Sep 9 because it needed more time to consider the responses.
Luke de Pulford, executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group with ties to an international network of politicians critical of China, which revealed the letter, said: “These explanations are far from satisfactory.”
De Pulford, a long-standing critic of plans for the embassy, said the “assurances amount to ‘trust me bro'”.
The Chinese embassy in London expressed “serious concern” over the government’s response.
The embassy said host countries have an “international obligation” to support the construction of diplomatic buildings.
“The Chinese side urges the UK side to fulfil its obligation and approve the planning application without delay,” the embassy said in a statement.
Earlier this month, the embassy said claims that the building could have “secret facilities” used to harm Britain’s national security were “despicable slandering”.
The Chinese government purchased Royal Mint Court in 2018 but its requests for planning permission to build the new embassy there were rejected by the local council in 2022. Chinese President Xi Jinping asked Prime Minister Keir Starmer last year to intervene.
Starmer’s central government took control of the planning decision last year.
