China's Mega Embassy

Hi Global Recap readers,

I don’t know about you, but this one’s tricky.

I try to stay as rational as possible, yet every so often I’m reminded I’m human—all too human (props to you if you caught the reference).

• My logical brain says China’s mega-project below is a nuanced debate.

• But then I look at that drawing and think: absolutely not.

What do you think? 👇🏼

🇨🇳🇬🇧 CHINA & UK
China's Mega
Embassy Debate

Downing Street is arguing that a planned Chinese embassy complex in London could actually make Britain safer, even as critics warn it could become a purpose-built spying hub. Nonetheless, this mega project keeps slipping on the calendar.

• Plan: China wants to turn the Royal Mint Court site, near the City of London, into the largest Chinese embassy in Europe, with space for around 200 staff, offices, and a big basement complex.

• Pitch: No. 10 says putting all Chinese diplomatic activity on one site would replace seven separate missions scattered around London, which they argue makes security monitoring simpler and more controlled.

• Delay: Nonetheless, the planning decision has been pushed back for a third time, now expected on Jan. 20 next year, to allow more consultation with security officials, local authorities, and the various groups lobbying for and against the build.

• Conditions: In a letter to opponents, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said national-security concerns were addressed once Beijing agreed that all accredited Chinese diplomats in London would move onto the new single site if it is approved. Yes, nothing to worry about anymore now that they've "agreed."

• Backlash: Neighbors, campaigners, and figures like former foreign secretary Sir James Cleverly warn that a giant secure compound next to key fiber optic cables is an espionage risk, especially given MI5’s description of Chinese state actors as a daily threat and recent alerts about Chinese approaches to MPs on LinkedIn.

🤔 Thoughts

Despite my obligatory interjection above, I do get the basic logic here.

• It is tidier, and probably easier, to keep an eye on one very large compound than on seven scattered addresses.

• That said, you’re also creating the perfect black box. If London, through complacency or a simple mistake, misreads what is going on inside, it risks being effectively blind everywhere at once.

• Here’s the biggest downside: once the project is finished and the diplomats move in, shutting the place down would mean triggering a full diplomatic crisis, which gives Beijing useful leverage.

So yes, consolidation may streamline the surveillance map, but it also commits Britain to a long bet that it will stay the watcher rather than the watched.

🇩🇪 GERMANY
Ammunition Heist
Stuns Bundeswehr

Germany’s Defense Ministry says a shipment of thousands of army rounds vanished in an overnight heist from a civilian contractor’s parked trailer.

• Theft: The ammo was loaded on a contractor’s trailer, left parked overnight, and by the time anyone checked on November 28, about 20,000 rounds were gone with no public details yet on caliber or exact type.

• Volume: Roughly 20,000 pieces of ammunition went missing sometime between November 24 and 25 and no one noticed until days later.

• Security: A Defense Ministry spokesperson says the forces and local police are investigating, stressing that this kind of ammunition must not land in the wrong hands, which is a polite way of saying someone badly fumbled basic security.

• Pattern: It is not the first time munitions have gone missing this year. In August, around 90 rounds disappeared from a police station in Saxony-Anhalt.

🇨🇳🇯🇵 CHINA & JAPAN
Standoff Over
Empty Rocks

A fresh standoff between Chinese and Japanese vessels near a tiny island chain in the East China Sea has both sides insisting they were the ones enforcing the law. The run-in comes just as political relations are already sliding downhill over Taiwan.

• Incident: Early Tuesday, China’s coast guard moved on a Japanese fishing boat near the uninhabited Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, a clutch of rocks that sit in the East China Sea between Taiwan and Japan and are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and potential energy reserves.

Why the two names?

• Claims: Beijing says the boat had "illegally entered" what it calls China’s Diaoyu territorial waters, so its coast guard ships closed in and took what it describes as "necessary law enforcement measures," while warning Tokyo to stop "infringement and provocation."

• Counter: However, Japan’s coast guard says two Chinese vessels entered Senkaku waters it considers Japanese, so its patrol ship rushed in, ordered the Chinese boats to leave, and stuck close to the Japanese trawler until the Chinese ships finally pulled back.

• Backdrop: The clash lands weeks after new Japanese PM Takaichi told parliament Japan might consider military action if China attacked Taiwan.

🇧🇬 BULGARIA
Budget Backlash
Forces Backpedal

Bulgaria’s government abruptly scrapped its 2026 draft budget after tens of thousands packed city squares in a night of roiling protests.

• Trigger: On Monday night tens of thousands of people packed a vast square outside parliament in Sofia while parallel rallies were held various other cities.

  • In the capital some masked protesters attacked the local offices of the ruling Gerb party and the ethnic Turkish DPS party, set rubbish bins on fire, smashed windows, and clashed with riot police in full gear.

  • More than 70 people were arrested, according to Sofia’s interior affairs chief.

• Politics: President Rumen Radev condemned the street violence as a "provocation by the mafia" but said Bulgarians had clearly rejected the cabinet, while opposition parties argued that abandoning the budget is not enough and are now pushing for the government’s resignation and early elections.

• Retreat: That said, by Tuesday Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov’s minority coalition folded, announcing it would withdraw the draft and restart the whole budget process instead of pushing ahead with higher social security contributions and taxes on dividends to fund extra spending.

• Trigger: The draft budget was accused of hiding corruption and stacking new taxes on social security and dividends to cover higher spending.