At a time when the Chinese government is mercilessly cracking down on dissidents, undertakes scams to honeytrap MPs and their staff, and has a de facto alliance with Russia, the stakes could not be higher.

This week Security Minister Dan Jarvis said the government will not tolerate “covert and calculated” attempts to interfere with the UK’s sovereign affairs, after the UK’s domestic counterintelligence and security agency MI5 issued an unequivocal warning over the mounting risk posed by an army of Chinese spooks.

With that in mind it seems remarkable China is on the cusp of being allowed to open up shop on a slice of prime real estate slap bang in the heart of the capital.

Beijing coughed up £255m in 2018 for the 700,000 sq ft base at Royal Mint Court, near the Tower of London.

Security experts are in unanimous agreement that nodding through the mega-embassy would be complete madness and pose a a clear and obvious global risk.

Is it a coincidence the site is close to fibre optic cables carrying sensitive communications to and from financial powerhouses in the City of London?

And what about two suites of anonymous, unlabelled basement rooms and a tunnel? Their exact use was redacted for security reasons in planning documents.

Most think there will not be a single diplomat occupying the place.

Earlier this year former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: “You are about to let 200 Chinese diplomats come occupy a new embassy. That’s nuts. Absolutely nuts.

“There won’t be a single diplomat among them. They will all be elements of the Chinese national security apparatus as narrowly understood.

“China presents a much greater, deeper threat, for sure.

“It has both the capability and the intention of undermining the post-World War II Western model — basic liberty, liberalism, historically grounded liberalism.

“They want to upend it. They’re going to take a good swing at it.”

US President Donald Trump isn’t happy and congressmen John Moolenaar and Chris Smith have already warned the Government would be “gifting the Chinese Communist government with the largest embassy in Europe” if the application is given the green light.

In a letter to Lord Mandelson, who was the British Ambassador to the United States before he was sacked over his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, they described the new diplomatic hub as a “counterproductive and unearned reward”.

Plans were blocked by the previous government after British intelligence agencies and Scotland Yard objected on the grounds that sensitive data cables could be vulnerable to attack by Chinese spies.

But such is Labour’s desperation to please the powerhouse nation don’t be surprised if that is overlooked as ministers continue to play down concerns.

The Tories say it would be a “barbarous irony” that a site so close to the medieval Tower of London could become a modern-day dungeon under a Starmer government.

It is now so patently obvious China’s authoritarian regime, which has for years resisted democracy, harassed political opponents and hunted down dissidents, is attempting to interfere with the UK’s sovereign affairs.

In 2022 former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared the so-called “golden era” of UK-China relations over.

Communities Secretary Steve Reed will have the final say.

But perhaps the last word should go to Sir Richard Dearlove, former head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, who said: “I think there is a real problem and the Government is going to be in an awfully difficult position if on December 10 they turn around and say ‘permission is granted for the embassy’.”

If this application is approved, Labour will have made all of Beijing’s Christmas wishes come true.