London’s Newest Ghost Town Was Financed by China
Buildings along the Thames stand mostly empty as a reminder of better times between London and Beijing
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Chinese President Xi Jinping and then-U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron were on hand to toast the signing of the deal to transform 35 acres of derelict London riverfront into a bustling finance hub.
Five years on, in the wake of Brexit and a cooling of Sino-British ties, developer Xu Weiping’s vision for another Canary Wharf packed with Chinese companies looks more like a mirage. Overlooking the Thames, along the old Royal Albert Docks and across the water from City Airport, stand 21 new buildings that form the first phase of the 1.7 billion-pound ($2.2 billion) project. They’re almost all empty.