Some Chinese businessmen with a UK presence have more explicit ties with their homeland’s communist administration.
In 2020 British Steel, the owner of the UK’s only manufacturer of rail and large steel sections, was snapped up by Jingye Group. This Beijing-based industrial group is owned by Li Ganpo, a former teacher who served as a communist party official for nearly 15 years.
The 76-year-old also served as a representative in the National People’s Congress — China’s rubber-stamp parliament. Jingye pledged to pour £1.2B of investment into British Steel. The buyer’s chief executive, Li Huiming, declared this was “the beginning of a new illustrious chapter” in the history of British steelmaking.
Three thousand jobs were saved and there was even talk of British Steel becoming a giant of European industry. Yet Jingye’s tenure has been beset with problems and the Chinese owner is now in legal dispute after the government drove through emergency legislation that allowed it to seize control of British Steel’s plant to ensure the furnaces could be kept going.
There were concerns by MPs and trade union leaders that Jingye might be deliberately setting out to sabotage the Scunthorpe plant and thereby make the UK more dependent on Chinese imports.
The accountancy group EY is managing the Scunthorpe site on behalf of the government. Negotiations between London and Beijing remain tense. Jingye has put a price of at least £1B on ceding legal control of British Steel.
However, in an indication of how blurred the lines between the 
state and private sectors have become in China, the owners of Jingye have apparently said they would be willing to waive the £1B if Starmer’s government approved the new Chinese embassy in London.
4/n
state and private sectors have become in China, the owners of Jingye have apparently said they would be willing to waive the £1B if Starmer’s government approved the new Chinese embassy in London.
4/n