"Keir Starmer insisted he would robustly protect the UK's national interests in response to speculation he will visit China early next year and the country's controversial embassy in London will be approved, reports the PA news agency. The prime minister said that no visit to China had yet been confirmed, while officials refused to comment on speculation about the planned embassy near the Tower of London."
"The meetings I'm having at the G20 aren't confirmed yet. Nor is any visit confirmed yet. Our approach is the same approach as we've always taken, which is cooperate where we can and challenge where we must, particularly on national security. You saw that this week, in relation to espionage, we had a statement in the house setting out the action the government is taking along with MI5 because we will always robustly protect our interests."
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said no visit to China has been confirmed and defended an approach of cooperating where possible and challenging where necessary, particularly on national security. A decision on a proposed Chinese embassy near the Tower of London and key data cables is due next month. MI5 and MI6 have cleared the plan, and the Home Office and Foreign Office will not raise formal objections provided mitigations protect national security. Critics fear the site could be used for espionage. Starmer attended the G20 summit in South Africa, where China was represented by premier Li Qiang.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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