20 Dec Associate Fellow James Jennion speaks on a potential new Chinese embassy

BFPG Associate Fellow James Jennion spoke to AFP news about Beijing’s plans to open the largest embassy in the UK.

James emphasized that the embassy was “clearly a priority” for China, noting embassies are “status symbols”.

He added the government “calling in” the application “made this more of a “bilateral issue” as well as likely creating future “domestic headaches”.

“This will make it tougher to assess based on practical factors, and will certainly be a defining feature of UK-China relations until a decision is made.”

He is quoted in a range of outlets including Channel News Asia, Fortune and France24.