Residents living on London's new Chinese embassy site fear they have unknowingly been living 'in China' since 2018

Residents living on the site of the new Chinese "super embassy" in London fear they have unknowingly been living "in China" since 2018.

People living in the 100 flats in Royal Mint Court estate said they were "shocked" when the government did not disagree during a judicial review hearing brought by the residents that the land has been diplomatic - with access rights therefore subject to Chinese approval - since 2018.

Their flats, built in 1978, are on the land belonging to Beijing after it bought the old Royal Mint site in 2018, but they say they have never been told if their homes are on diplomatic land, which would mean, if they are, the land is inviolable.

Under international diplomatic laws, inviolability means UK authorities, including ambulances, police and fire engines, cannot enter inviolable land unless the head of an embassy consents.

The residents have brought the judicial review over concerns about their safety and whether planning conditions attached to the government's planning permission, granted in January, can realistically be enforced.

At a review hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice at the end of March, the government failed to deny diplomatic immunity applies across the entire site.

Resident Mark Nyegate told Sky News the revelation was a "shock" and said they are concerned the Chinese could oust them from their flats.

There are also concerns the conditions placed on the planning permission will not be enforceable due to the site being diplomatic land.

Last October, a letter from then foreign secretary Boris Johnson to Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi was leaked, revealing he had granted the site diplomatic consent in 2018. He also gave Beijing assurances planning permission would be granted.

The current government has refused to release the letter but a minister confirmed it is factual in parliament.

In a copy obtained by Sky News, Mr Johnson makes no mention of whether the flats and any planning permission requirements and conditions are included in this diplomatic consent.

Under UK law, as soon as diplomatic consent is granted, the land is inviolable.

Luke de Pulford, co-founder of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, which is helping the residents with the judicial review, told Sky News: "It is absolutely outrageous that the government failed to inform residents that they are living on Chinese diplomatic land.

"Quite apart from possible safety implications, there are obvious consequences for the value of their properties. It's about time that this shady deal was fully dragged into the light."

Read more:
Everything we know about China's new super embassy
Protesters march against new embassy

The residents had been left wondering if their homes were on diplomatic land since the Johnson letter was revealed, but nothing was mentioned in the planning application for the new site, where much was made of a fence placed between their homes and flats to be built for Chinese embassy staff.

Mr Nyegate, treasurer of the Royal Mint Court Residents Association, told Sky News: "It came as a bit of a shock to us.

"I've always half joked about living in China since 2018, but that's a reality now.

"That hearing shows we are definitely on diplomatic land, and if we had any issues then Tower Hamlets Council wouldn't be able to be involved, and police couldn't come onto the land.

"We've always thought we would be covered by UK law and what we're trying to find out is have we lost our rights?

"The planning application has a fence dividing us from the embassy flats, but that obviously isn't the case in terms of our rights."

Mr Nyegate added: "What's to say tomorrow morning they just say 'you're moving off'?

"And will any of us be able to sell our homes now that they're essentially owned by China?"

Hong Kong dissident Chloe Cheung, advocacy manager at the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, said she and other Hong Kongers had protested against the embassy from the flats' car park.

"It is outrageous that Hong Kong activists could step into what we believed was safe ground, only to later discover it was effectively treated as Chinese territory," she told Sky News.

"People took those risks without informed consent. When governments strike arrangements with Beijing, the absolute minimum they owe the public is transparency. Instead, Hong Kong activists were left in the dark and exposed to danger."

The residents' concerns about the planning conditions being unenforceable have previously been dismissed by the government, which says there are ways of enforcing planning conditions through diplomatic laws.

The residents believe this is unlikely to happen because, under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, it would mean the British government having to declare Chinese diplomats persona non grata or terminating diplomatic relations entirely and expelling the entire mission.

This would cause a major diplomatic row with a country the government is trying to stay on the right side of.

The government said it does not comment on ongoing legal action.

The Chinese embassy in London did not respond to requests for a comment.

(c) Sky News 2026: Residents living on London's new Chinese embassy site fear they have unknowing