# The Chinese embassy in London

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "The Chinese embassy in London," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-chinese-embassy-in-london/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's assessment of the Chinese mission planned for London — an embassy occupying an entire city block that would be the largest in the world, approved over street protests, and which he calls 'the mother of all spy dens.' He contrasts it with Washington's refusal of the same proposal, and predicts China will now build such embassies everywhere.*

- **London:** An entire city block; would be the largest embassy in the world
- **Washington:** The same proposal refused; the mission is split up
- **Washington layout:** Embassy on Embassy Row opposite the Israelis; housing in Kalorama; trade mission separate
- **Kiriakou's verdict:** "The mother of all spy dens"
- **His forecast:** "This is not a one-and-done"

**The Chinese embassy in London** is a project [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) treats as a genuine intelligence problem for the United Kingdom, and as the opening move of a much larger programme.

## Washington's refusal

Asked whether the mission is a threat, Kiriakou answered *"Yes, I do"* and said he had been following the issue. His first point is that the same request had already been made and rejected in the United States. *"The Chinese tried the same thing in Washington and we said nothing doing. So they're kind of split up."*[1]

He describes the resulting arrangement in some detail: *"They have a large-ish embassy on a street of embassies. They're directly across the street from the Israelis. They're down the street from like the Vietnamese and the Qataris and you know, people like that. But um their housing is in a different place just off Embassy Row in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington. They're sort of split up. The trade mission's in a different building."*[2]

Dispersal, on his account, is the point of the refusal.

## London

*"In London, they are planning this ginormous embassy. It would be the biggest embassy in the world. And it takes the entire city block in London. There've been protests in the streets about this embassy."*[2]

Kiriakou's account of the British decision is unsympathetic, and he paraphrases the prime minister rather than quoting him: *"for whatever reason Keir Starmer said, 'Now what I I don't really care what the British people want. Sure, you can have your embassy.'"*[3]

## The verdict and the forecast

His judgement inverts an old accusation. *"talk about the United States used to be accused a lot of of having a spy den in their embassy. This is going to be the mother of all spy dens."*[3]

And he treats London as a template rather than an exception: *"mark my words, this is not a one-and-done. The Chinese are going to seek to build embassies like this all over the world. God knows they have the money for it."*[3]

## See also

- [China as economic threat](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/china-economic-threat)
- [MI6](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mi6)
- [Denied areas](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/denied-areas)
- [Russia is not the gravest threat](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/russia-is-not-the-gravest-threat)

## Sources

1. John Kiriakou CIA Story Meme Compilation 6 (2026-02-25), at 08:15. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtLO5yZ6EhU&t=495s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-25-viral-plug-john-kiriakou-cia-story-meme-compilation-6/
2. John Kiriakou CIA Story Meme Compilation 6 (2026-02-25), at 08:46. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtLO5yZ6EhU&t=526s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-25-viral-plug-john-kiriakou-cia-story-meme-compilation-6/
3. John Kiriakou CIA Story Meme Compilation 6 (2026-02-25), at 09:18. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtLO5yZ6EhU&t=558s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-25-viral-plug-john-kiriakou-cia-story-meme-compilation-6/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-chinese-embassy-in-london/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt