The Chinese Embassy offered bottles of wine to two Tower Hamlets councillors ahead its planned move to Tower Hill.
The embassy tried to gift the wine to Aspire Party councillor Iqbal Hossain, who chairs the development committee, and Labour councillor Abdal Ullah, who represents the ward where the new embassy will be based.
Both councillors say they refused the bottles, estimated to be worth between £20 and £25 each. Both councillors are practising Muslims, and don’t drink alcohol. Cllr Ullah said he didn’t know why the embassy “insist” on sending gifts.
Cllr Hossain and Cllr Ullah both declared the attempted gifts to the council on February 3. Cllr Ullah said he received the bottle of wine that day, while Cllr Hossain said his arrived on January 6.
They were the latest in a series of gifts the embassy has attempted to send to councillors in Tower Hamlets since it first applied for planning permission for its new location at Royal Mint Court in June 2021.
The council’s register of gifts and hospitalities shows the Chinese Embassy sent bottles of wine to various councillors from Aspire and Labour eight times between 2021 and 2025.
It also sent Aspire mayor Lutfur Rahman a box of biscuits in December 2023, and Aspire councillor Shafi Ahmed tea in January 2024.
The Chinese Embassy did not respond to a request for comment.
Aspire and Labour councillors both opposed the embassy’s plans to relocate to Royal Mint Court. However, Secretary of State Steve Reid approved it on January 20 on behalf of the Labour government, which supported the move.
Cllr Hossain told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) he didn’t know why the embassy had sent him the latest gift, but suggested they might be “following a custom”.
Cllr Ullah also suggested it might be the embassy’s practice to send gifts. He told the LDRS: “They send it, we don’t want it.
“I’m a practising Muslim, I don’t drink and I wouldn’t accept a gift anyway. I don’t know why they insist on doing this”.
