China has warned the UK about British Steel, wants a fair settlement | Story

Chinese company Jingye is seeking compensation after a UK move to shore up loss-making British Steel.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China has said it will closely monitor the United Kingdom’s country British Steelformerly owned by a Chinese steel manufacturer.

The UK government nationalized British Steel on Thursday, taking over the loss-making company, which was under Jingye’s ownership, on national security grounds.

“This news has caused great concern in China,” China’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

“How Britain deals with this issue will directly affect the confidence of Chinese investors in the UK economy and change public opinion in China about the credibility of the British government,” it said.

The Chinese Ministry also urged Britain to find an acceptable solution, including compensation arrangements.

Jingye Steel said last week that it wants Britain to pay back the money it lost because of its investment in British Steel.

British Steel is the sole source of steel for the UK. It supports around 2,700 jobs across its main steelworks in Scunthorpe and thousands more across many routes.

Jingye – which is among the 100 largest companies in China – bought British Steel for 70 million pounds ($94m) in 2020. By 2025, Jingye said it is losing 700,000 pounds ($942,000) every day.

British Steel has been operating for over a year. In March 2025, Jingye held a hearing which concluded that British Steel’s furnaces were not financially sustainable.

The following month, it emerged that Jingye had suspended orders for major steel products, prompting fears that he was planning to shut down the blast furnaces.

Closing the Scunthorpe plant would make Britain the only G7 country without the ability to produce virgin materials.

In April, the UK government took control of British Steel from Jingye to prevent this from happening, although the Chinese company retained ownership.

The UK government said on Thursday that the production of British Steel is essential to provide jobs and supply chains, to protect major infrastructure projects and national security.