Britain has sent a parade of senior officials to China this year, part of a calculated charm offensive to thaw out relations with a country that looms large in a world order upended by the United States under President Trump.
But an emergency move by the British Parliament last weekend to take control of a Chinese-owned British steel mill has struck a discordant note amid all the diplomacy. And it could raise deeper questions about Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s efforts to cultivate warmer ties with China, at a time when Mr. Trump’s tariffs are sowing fears about protectionism and fraying trade agreements worldwide.
Britain acted to prevent the Chinese company that owns the plant, in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, from shutting down two blast furnaces, which could have shuttered the plant, cost 2,700 jobs and left Britain reliant on other countries for what it considers a strategically important commodity.
The government’s fruitless negotiations with the company, which refused subsidies to stay open, has prompted accusations of bad faith and even rumors of sabotage by the Chinese owner, which British officials rejected. But they are questioning whether other Chinese companies should be allowed to invest in sensitive industries.
“We have got to be clear about what is the sort of sector where actually we can promote and cooperate and ones, frankly, where we can’t,” Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, told Sky News on Sunday. “I wouldn’t personally bring a Chinese company into our steel sector.”
Mr. Reynolds said the Chinese company, Jingye, had refused to order vital raw materials, knowing that this would lead to the closure of the mill, Britain’s last big producer of crude steel, used in construction projects.
On Monday, the government said it was confident it had secured the raw material needed to keep the furnaces burning, through two ships carrying iron ore and coking coal. But it has been left with a business that is reportedly losing 700,000 pounds, or $922,000, a day.
China on Monday warned Britain not to politicize the dispute. A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, Lin Jian, said the government should “refrain from turning economic and trade cooperation into political and security issues, lest it should undermine the confidence of Chinese companies.”
The dispute comes at an awkward moment for Mr. Starmer’s government. It had set out to improve a relationship that had frayed in recent years because of China’s crackdown in Hong Kong and allegations of Chinese cyberattacks that compromised the voting records of tens of millions of people.
Whatever the government’s misgivings about China’s human rights record or the security threat it may pose, it views better trade relations with China as an important ingredient in Britain’s economic growth and a hedge against the protectionist policies of the Trump administration.
“The question is whether ministers want to see it for what it is or prefer to downplay it in order not to increase tension between the U.K. and China in a turbulent time,” said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London. “I think the balance is that ministers will choose the latter course.”
The chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, traveled to Beijing in January to drum up Chinese investment. She endured japes after returning with only 600 million pounds, about $791 million, in commitments, but it was a conspicuous sign of the government’s new approach.
Last week, the chief of the defense staff, Admiral Tony Radakin, the top official in the British armed forces, traveled to Beijing for meetings with Chinese officials to strengthen military-to-military communication. He also delivered an address at the People’s Liberation Army National Defense University in Beijing.
Such visits almost recall the days of David Cameron, the Conservative prime minister who declared a “golden era” of economic ties between Britain and China. In 2015, he took China’s president, Xi Jinping, out for a pint at a 16th-century pub. By 2020, relations had soured, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson kept Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications giant, out of Britain’s 5G network.
Even amid the recent exchanges, there have been bumps. Last week, officials in Hong Kong denied entry to a Liberal Democratic member of Parliament, Wera Hobhouse. She is a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, which has criticized the threat to free speech in Hong Kong. China’s move came as a trade minister, Douglas Alexander, was on a visit to the city.
“I think the government will look upon it as an inconvenience,” Luke de Pulford, the executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance, said of the dispute over the steel mill. “For a long time, there has been a dogma in the Treasury that China is going to rescue the British economy.”
But the government faces another delicate decision: whether to approve plans for China to construct a sprawling new embassy next to London’s financial district. Residents and other critics have opposed it, saying that its proximity to major banks and brokerage firms could facilitate spying.
“I know it’s a diplomatic priority for the Chinese,” Mr. de Pulford said, noting that Mr. Xi had raised it with Mr. Starmer.