\n<\/p>\n
China\u2019s government has said it is \u201cstrongly dissatisfied\u201d with the decision to nationalise British Steel this week, 15 months after the UK government intervened to prevent the closure of its steelworks in Scunthorpe and the loss of 4,000 jobs.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, British Steel was brought under public ownership to protect \u201cthe future of steel production\u201d, the government announced.<\/p>\n
The Department for Business and Trade said the move was essential to maintain steel production at the company\u2019s site in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, to protect the company\u2019s future and UK supply chains.<\/p>\n
However, China\u2019s Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom) said the move dealt \u201ca severe blow to Chinese companies\u2019 confidence in investing in the UK\u201d.<\/p>\n
British Steel was previously owned by the Chinese company Jingye. The Labour government stepped in with an emergency recall of parliament to prevent the closure of British Steel in April last year, after Jingye threatened to walk away without taking steps to preserve the blast furnaces in Lincolnshire.<\/p>\n
A Mofcom spokesperson told the Chinese media outlet Global Times: \u201cThe UK side, disregarding Jingye Group\u2019s important contributions to the British economy and society, forcibly took control of British Steel and subsequently nationalised the company in the name of national security, seriously undermining Jingye\u2019s legitimate rights and interests and dealing a severe blow to Chinese companies\u2019 confidence in investing in the UK.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina firmly opposes and is strongly dissatisfied with the UK government\u2019s decision. China will closely follow developments, support Chinese companies in safeguarding their rights through legal means, and take strong measures to firmly protect the interests of Chinese companies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jingye has argued in its UK accounts and in statements on its WeChat social media account that British Steel was a valuable asset worthy of large compensation even though it had been prepared to walk away and let it fail.<\/p>\n
The government plans to appoint an independent valuer to work out what compensation should be paid to Jingye, in an effort to forestall legal action under international treaties.<\/p>\n
The Mofcom spokesperson reportedly said the UK government should \u201cabide by relevant international rules, earnestly fulfil its obligations under the China-UK bilateral investment treaty, treat Chinese companies operating in the UK in a fair and impartial manner, and fully protect their legitimate rights and interests\u201d.<\/p>\n
After Thursday\u2019s nationalisation a new leadership team was appointed to focus on stabilising the business and turning it into a \u201ccommercially sustainable, low-carbon enterprise\u201d, the UK government said.<\/p>\n
Keir Starmer \u2013 in one of the last significant actions overseen by him as prime minister \u2013 confirmed the nationalisation on Thursday and said: \u201cBritish Steel is part of the fabric of our nation and a cornerstone of Britain\u2019s industrial strength.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s decision secures the future of steelmaking in the UK, protects skilled jobs and safeguards a vital national capability.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis government will always act in the national interest to support British industry, strengthen our economy and ensure the industries we rely on can thrive long into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
The announcement followed the Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Act 2026 receiving royal assent and becoming law. The new law allows ministers to transfer steel businesses\u2019 shares or property into public ownership.<\/p>\n
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Sign up to Business Today<\/span><\/p>\n Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n The nationalisation of British Steel is the latest geopolitical flashpoint between the UK and China. Earlier this year Starmer travelled to China in an effort to bring \u201cstability and clarity\u201d to relations between the two countries after years of what he described as \u201cinconsistency\u201d.<\/p>\n Last year the government finalised a \u00a338bn deal to back Britain\u2019s biggest nuclear project, Sizewell C, after easing out China General Nuclear, which had held a 20% stake, in 2021 over security fears.<\/p>\n In 2020, Boris Johnson angered China by ordering that equipment made by Huawei be stripped out of Britain\u2019s 5G phone networks.<\/p>\n While Donald Trump praised the decision \u2013 the US had piled political pressure on countries to ban Huawei citing national security concerns \u2013 China\u2019s ambassador to the UK criticised the move, saying it made it \u201cquestionable whether the UK can provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory business environment for companies from other countries\u201d.<\/p>\n The two countries have also enjoyed better relations in the past, most famously when David Cameron took Xi Jinping to a pub in 2015.<\/p>\n A year later the Chinese company SinoFortone Investment acquired the 16th-century Buckinghamshire pub, which had become something of a tourist attraction for Chinese visitors after the visit.<\/p>\n PA Media contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" China\u2019s government has said it is \u201cstrongly dissatisfied\u201d with the decision to nationalise British Steel this week, 15 months after the UK government intervened to prevent the closure of its steelworks in Scunthorpe and the loss of 4,000 jobs. On Thursday, British Steel was brought under public ownership to protect \u201cthe future of steel production\u201d,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[336,2153,25020,25021,3688,11791],"class_list":{"0":"post-51229","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-british","9":"tag-china","10":"tag-dissatisfied","11":"tag-nationalisation","12":"tag-steel","13":"tag-strongly"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}