An artist's impression of the proposed Chinese embassy development on the site of the former Royal Mint in London.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to officially approve a mega-embassy for China in central London next month, after receiving the go-ahead from MI5 and MI6, The Times reported on Friday, 21st.

The Home Office and Foreign Office are not expected to raise official objections to the plans, provided appropriate 'mitigation measures' are put in place to protect national security.

The two departments, representing the national security agencies, are set to submit their formal responses to the embassy plans in the coming days, before a final decision is made on December 10th. Whitehall sources have said the approval process for the embassy will be a "rubber-stamping exercise".

Mr Starmer is also set to visit China next year as Britain seeks to deepen its economic ties with Beijing, despite concerns that China is engaging in a large-scale espionage campaign against the UK.

China had warned that there would be "consequences" if its plans to build the new UK embassy were not approved. The decision on the development at Royal Mint Court, near the Tower of London, has been delayed multiple times due to its location over a network of fibre-optic cables that transmit information to the City of London financial district.

Sky News reported that while a final decision has not yet been made, Mr Starmer is preparing for a visit to Beijing in January next year. If the visit goes ahead, he would be the first British Prime Minister to visit China since Theresa May in 2018.

Liz Kendall, the science minister, refused to comment directly but acknowledged that ministers want to work with China in key areas without compromising national security.

Both the planned visit and the embassy approval come after warnings from UK intelligence services that China is conducting a large-scale spy campaign against the UK, which risks causing political backlash, The Times diagnosed.

The newspaper reported that Chinese-linked headhunters are approaching senior UK officials, think-tank officials and researchers at random.

MI5, the UK's domestic security agency, has warned that China is attempting to "cultivate" senior parliamentarians and individuals "at arm's length", urging MPs to be wary of "unusual questions" from colleagues or acquaintances that could hint at information gathering.

The Defence Secretary added that the general public should also be vigilant about unsolicited online contact from potential Chinese intelligence agents.

Gordon Chang, a prominent anti-China lawyer, wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "Britain is lost".

Hong Seong-gu, Chief Editor of US NNP / Special Correspondent NNP info@newsandpost.com