The former Royal Mint site in London, purchased at great expense by the Chinese Communist government, is proposed to be turned into Europe’s largest embassy.
As the row over plans to relocate the Chinese Embassy in London intensifies, the Borough Council of Tower Hamlets in East London will hold a full council meeting to discuss a motion to rename the streets around the new Communist embassy in East London in honor of the Muslim population persecuted in China.
The Tower Hamlets district has the largest Muslim population in Britain, outnumbering Christians, and is Home to more than 40 mosques and Islamic centers, including the East London Mosque, the largest mosque in Britain.
The Chinese Communist government purchased the old Royal Mint building across from the Tower of London for £250 million in 2018 and plans to renovate it into the largest Chinese Communist embassy in Europe, the London Evening Standard reported on Jan. 21.
The MP for Tower Hamlets, however, expressed concern about the CCP’s human rights record, particularly Hong Kong‘s new national security laws, and the plight of Uighur Muslims.
The Uighur Muslim population is reportedly detained in re-Education camps, forced to work and banned from practicing Islam in China.
Chinese Ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming denied the reports, saying “all of them are lies, fabricated by some irresponsible Western politicians and media”.
A motion to be discussed at a plenary session of Tower Hamlets Borough Council would ask the local authority to rename the road around the new Chinese embassy site “Tiananmen Square” in honor of the 1989 student protests in China. “Uyghur Court” and “Hong Kong Road”, and another proposed road name is “Xiaobo Road “(Xiaobo Road), named after Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo, a jailed Chinese political prisoner.
Rabina Khan, Liberal Democrat MP, protests against human rights abuses by the Chinese Communist Party in front of the Chinese Embassy in London on Human Rights Day, October 1, 2020. (Photo credit: by permission of Rabina Khan)
Liberal Democrat MP Rabina Khan, who proposed the motion, will also ask the borough council to raise the Tibetan snow lion flag outside City Hall on March 10 to commemorate Tibetan Uprising Day, which commemorates the 1959 uprising against the Chinese Communist occupation of Tibet.
Rabina Khan said, “We welcome the move of the Chinese Communist Embassy and its staff to Tower Hamlets, but as new neighbors and friends we must continue to be clear about our own standards and principles.”
The motion added that the District Council should urge the Chinese Communist government and the Hong Kong government, to reconsider the National Security Law legislation implemented and should oppose human rights violations against Uighur Muslims.
Rabina Khan added: “Our district has a long and proud history of being the first place where many people who fled persecution in their countries of origin landed in the UK. And those who came to the UK earlier are now British citizens.”
Last year, Liu Xiaoming, the Communist Party’s ambassador to the UK, wrote to John Biggs, the mayor of Tower Hamlets, saying he believed councillors were “trying to interfere” with the new embassy. He expressed “grave concern” about the motion to be discussed at a full council meeting, and the borough has begun consulting with local residents about plans to relocate the Communist Embassy.
The Royal Mint was built in 1809 on the site of the Cistercian monastery in St Mary Graces, whose cemetery contains mass graves of Black Death victims.
MPs also warned that the renovation of the new embassy could unearth the remains of thousands of plague victims.
Conservative Peter Golds has written to Historic England to ensure that the site is properly investigated before any renovation work begins.
This is a site of great historical significance,” he said. My concern is that the whole site will be the foundation and heritage …… and the burial ground for the victims of the Black Death.”
Historic England, formally known as the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England, is a public body of the non-executive branch of the British government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Its mission is to conserve and list historic buildings and monuments and to advise central and local government on the preservation of England’s historic environment.
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