Beijing warned Britain on Monday (Apr 14) against "politicising" an unfolding spat over the future of Chinese-owned British Steel after legislation was approved to prevent the shutdown of the last British factory that can make steel from scratch.
The UK government rushed urgent legislation through parliament on Saturday to stop the blast furnaces at British Steel's plant in the northern English town of Scunthorpe from being turned off.
The move came after owners Jingye said it was no longer financially viable to keep them burning.
Britain's Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds later said London had been "naive" to let the Chinese firm take over part of the sensitive steel industry.
A spokesman for China's foreign ministry urged the British government on Monday to "avoid politicising trade cooperation or linking it to security issues, so as not to impact the confidence of Chinese enterprises in going to the UK".
"When it comes to the operational difficulties currently faced by British Steel, the two sides should negotiate a solution on the basis of mutual benefit," Lin Jian told a regular news briefing in Beijing.
Beijing hopes London will "treat Chinese businesses that have invested and operate in the UK fairly and justly, (and) protect their legitimate and lawful rights and interests".
Jingye, one of the world's biggest steel firms, is "a Chinese private enterprise that has undertaken cooperation with the British side based on market principles", Lin said.
The company bought British Steel in 2020 and says it has invested more than £1.2 billion (US$1.6 billion) to maintain operations but was losing around £700,000 a day.
