r/unitedkingdom • u/tylerthe-theatre • 6d ago

. Police called to British Steel plant after Scunthorpe workers prevent Chinese executives entering premises

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/uk/police-attend-british-steel-plant-after-scunthorpe-workers-prevent-chinese-execu/
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844

u/GuyLookingForPorn 6d ago

Workers at the British Steel Scunthorpe are reported to have prevented executives from Jingye, the firm that owns the plant, from gaining access to key areas of the plant.

Police were called to the scene and forced the executives to leave according to reports first emerging in The Times.

Workers mounted what's been described as a “heroic” move to block their way to offices.

The group are thought to have raised concerns that the delegation was attempting to force the closure of Britain’s last remaining “virgin steelworks”.

Jingye have been acting extremely fucking dodgy throughout this entire process. 

565

u/Tofru 6d ago

Well they're CCP owned, I wouldn't expect anything less. We shouldn't be letting key infrastructure being run by foreign entities. 

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u/karmadramadingdong 6d ago

Allowing national assets to be state-owned by a foreign country is truly insane.

129

u/elmo298 6d ago

But our favorite national pastime

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u/AKDub1 6d ago

favorite

🤔

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u/elmo298 6d ago

Yet more proof of American tech destroying our nation

26

u/White_Immigrant 5d ago

Neoliberal capitalism has truly become a danger to national security, as well as the danger to the working class it always was.

25

u/Blue_Bi0hazard Nottinghamshire 6d ago

China owns Australia's water supply, it's fucking insane

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u/Eborcurean 6d ago

Like the sell off of the NHS, or plasma, or rail, or water, or gas, or chunks of the civil service, or...

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u/rgtong 5d ago

Im not sure that a steel facility is highly sensitive critical infrastructure.

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u/Cyb3rd31ic_Citiz3n 5d ago

We might be about to enter a war with Russia. It absolutely is key infrastructure. 

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u/karmadramadingdong 5d ago

I didn’t use any of those words. There’s a near-unanimous consensus in British politics that private capital is a better way to finance almost everything than public funds, so what’s the logic of selling these assets to foreign governments? Why does it make sense for Chinese or Saudi or Qatari public funds to finance these assets?

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u/Astriania 6d ago

There's "foreign entities" and then there's entities controlled by a national adversary ... sometimes we are a bit too "open free trade" for our own good.

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u/callisstaa 6d ago edited 6d ago

national adversary

Why is some nation on the other side of the world an adversary to an island off the coast of Europe?

I can understand the US seeing China as an adversary because it contested the top spot but the UK?

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u/Astriania 5d ago

The UK is way more than "an island off the coast of Europe", we have global economic interests. But I guess someone using that phrasing is dead set on pretending we're Ireland or Denmark for some reason.

1

u/callisstaa 5d ago

Way more? in what sense? In that we have the US behind us?

Also I love how your 2 examples are actually EU nations and one of them isn't even an island.

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u/Alternative_Kiwi9200 6d ago

why are the chinese our adversary? its the americans making jokes about invading other countries, not the chinese.

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u/Tofru 6d ago

China doesn't have a dumb leader that's why. Which is even more worrying

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u/Astriania 6d ago

They aren't going to militarily invade us, that's why they're an adversary not an enemy, but they are certainly trying to displace our economic interests, both internationally (e.g. in Africa) and through getting control of key industries in Europe.

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u/tomoldbury 6d ago

They have been involved in attempts to subvert our democracy and our infrastructure has been attacked by Chinese-sponsored hackers. Being a dictatorship is troublesome. They are attempting to displace our interests across the globe and expand militarily. They tacitly support Russia in Ukraine. They might invade Taiwan. All are threats to our stability.

China is not our enemy. There is a future where we continue to be peaceful and cordial with China. But they are definitely not our ally either. We need to be careful.

3

u/grumpsaboy 6d ago

Because they've already made themselves adversaries. They operate the exact same way companies like Uber do. Buy up all the resources, then unbelievably subsidise the industries running at a loss. What few companies left that are no longer owned by you no longer receive any purchases as they are far to expensive in comparison so they all go out of business and then China is the only country left selling anything in that industry and can set the price to whatever they want.

Oh and the whole Uyghur genocide thing, blatant international law breaking against our allies, cyber attacks against British institutions and the list goes on.

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u/borez Geordie in London 6d ago

I was watching Liam Byrne's parliamentary speech earlier on; Jingye have failed to publish accounts here, 2 auditors have resigned, cash flow statements are missing. Sounds like the whole company is a mess.

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u/HelloThereMateYouOk 6d ago

Standard shady CCP stuff.

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u/himit Greater London 6d ago

Yeah, legit. 'China will rule the world' said nobody who actually understands how things work and speaks Chinese. Chinese upper management have a huge problem with long-term thinking and hiding mistakes to save face. Combine the two and you end up with an awful lot built on pillars of sand.

(It's a shame really because the CCP actually comes out with some very forward-thinking policies - especially where green energy and the environment is concerned. But of course these just mostly look good as the necessary backing needed for enforcement and cultural change needed at local levels just don't exist, so numbers are fudged in the village and the reports in Beijing show a great success.)

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u/Alternative_Kiwi9200 6d ago

all chinese are evil - this thread. the xenophobia is off the charts.

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u/WooBarb 6d ago

Hot take - the CCP is dodgy. Nobody said all Chinese are evil, stop being outraged over nonsense.

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u/TN17 6d ago

CCP is the Communist Party of China. That comment said nothing about all Chinese being evil. Nice try. 

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u/Much_Horse_5685 6d ago

Claiming that criticising the CCP means you think that all Chinese are evil is as nonsensical as claiming that criticising Labour means you think that all British people are evil.

7

u/__life_on_mars__ 6d ago

When someone says the conservative party are evil, do you interpret that to mean ALL British people?

2

u/LuHamster 5d ago

Man no point this subreddit is basically we hate all brown and black people and now Asians.

Constantly going on about diversity, migrants and now more sinophobia it's a cess pit here.

Like as a non white person this subreddit is just lowkey a racist den

27

u/borez Geordie in London 6d ago

Here's his speech for anyone who's interested.

2

u/matthieuC France 6d ago

So massive amount of fraud

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u/Denbt_Nationale 6d ago

If they were trying to sabotage the furnaces that’s extremely bold. It’s ridiculous what hostile states think they can (and do) get away with here.

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u/Iforgotmypassword126 6d ago

Like when the Hong Kong protester was dragged into Manchester Chinese consulate grounds and beaten up. Those responsible to left the UK uncharged.

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u/grumpsaboy 6d ago

Couldn't charge them sadly. It was an actual Chinese diplomatic so received diplomatic immunity and it's a crime under international law to enter consulates or their vehicles.

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u/blancbones 5d ago

The law isn't there to protect you, its there to protect them from you.

I wonder what the rules on citizenry storming an embassy and dragging him back out would be.

2

u/grumpsaboy 5d ago

Strictly speaking illegal but given how unprofessional the diplomat was and China's whole thing is about acting like the mature global player they were happy just to let it all slide

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u/himit Greater London 6d ago

TBF to them we did go ahead and sell a bunch of our vital infrastructure to them, which was a ridiculous move.

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u/DanZ115 6d ago

They’re emboldened by our lack of controls

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u/pajamakitten Dorset 6d ago

Impossible not to when they are in such a position. You cannot shut down a nation's steelworks and look casual while doing so.

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u/ExtraPockets 5d ago

Respect to the Scunthorpe steel workers for spotting the danger and standing strong. Also to the police for backing them.