China’s New London “Super Embassy”: Soft Power Hub or Security Risk?

China’s new “super embassy” in central London sits directly above sensitive communication and fiber-optic cables that connect the city’s major financial hubs. The compound will likely include multiple underground rooms and a tunnel that could enable cable tapping, as well as multistory buildings that could support line-of-sight signals intelligence (SIGINT) collection of important surrounding buildings.

In this video, CSIS experts Emily Harding and Aosheng Pusztaszeri break down the embassy’s strategic location and argue that, if approved, the new compound would pose significant national security risks to the United Kingdom and its allies.

This event is made possible by general support to the Intelligence, National Security, and Technology Program.