Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards the development of a new British Embassy in Beijing; and whether permission for the construction of that new embassy has been approved by the government of China.

The Chinese government has agreed in principle to our project to build a new British embassy in Beijing. We are at the initial stages of our planning application process, with detailed submission and approval not anticipated until later this year. The design stage for the project is underway, and subject to agreement on logistics, planning and funding approval, construction on the new British embassy is expected to start in 2022.