Britain on Tuesday summoned the Chinese ambassador in London for a rebuke after the arrest and alleged assault of a BBC journalist covering Covid protests.

Zheng Zeguang was called in to the foreign office after the incident involving Ed Lawrence in Shanghai, which Foreign Secretary James Cleverly had called "deeply disturbing".

"It is incredibly important that we protect media freedom," Cleverly told reporters at a NATO meeting in Romania, confirming Zheng had been summoned.

"It is something very, very much at the heart of the UK's belief system," the foreign minister said.

"It's incredibly important that journalists are able to go about their business, unmolested, and without fear of attack."

Lawrence was hauled away by police late Sunday while filming a protest against Covid restrictions, one of many that have rocked China in recent days.

The BBC said he was assaulted by police before being released several hours later.

China hit back at British alarm over the journalist's treatment and after Downing Street urged police show respect towards the Covid protesters.

"The UK side is in no position to pass judgment on China's Covid policy or other internal affairs," an embassy spokesperson said, before Zheng was summoned, noting Britain's own high death rate.

The government in London also this month expressed concern after reports emerged of Beijing operating undeclared police outposts in foreign countries including Britain.

- 'Golden era over' -

A senior Chinese diplomat was summoned to the foreign office last month after his consulate colleagues in Manchester, northwest England, were accused of beating up a Hong Kong pro-democracy protester.

The incidents have fuelled political pressure in Britain on the new government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to get tough with China.

But Sunak is treading a fine line between defending freedoms and antagonising the world's second-biggest economy.

In a speech on Monday, he said the so-called "golden era" of UK-China relations trumpeted by former prime minister David Cameron was "over".

But Sunak also called for "robust pragmatism" in dealing with Britain's competitors, disappointing critics who want him to go further in confronting Beijing.

Separately on Tuesday, the UK ousted Chinese nuclear firm CGN from construction of its new Sizewell C nuclear power station, which will now be built only with French commercial partner EDF.

That came after UK government departments were ordered last week to stop installing Chinese-made surveillance cameras at "sensitive sites".

The week before, a Chinese company was forced to divest most of Britain's biggest semiconductor maker, Newport Wafer Fab.

Sunak's spokesman declined to say if national security factors drove the decision on CGN.

But he told reporters: "Certainly we think it's right that the UK has more energy security, energy independence."

China a 'systemic challenge' to UK values: PM Sunak
London (AFP) Nov 28, 2022 - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak warned Monday that China posed a "systemic challenge" to UK "values and interests" as his government condemned Beijing after a BBC journalist said he was beaten covering Shanghai protests.

In his first major speech on foreign policy, Sunak said that the so-called "golden era" of UK-China relations trumpeted by former prime minister David Cameron was "over, along with the naive idea that trade would automatically lead to social and political reform."

Britain would "need to evolve our approach to China" as a result, he said in his speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet in London.

"We recognise China poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests, a challenge that grows more acute as it moves towards even greater authoritarianism," he said.

"We cannot simply ignore China's significance in world affairs -- to global economic stability or issues like climate change. The US, Canada, Australia, Japan and many others understand this too.

"So together we'll manage this sharpening competition, including with diplomacy and engagement," he added.

His government will prioritise deepening trade and security ties with Indo-Pacific allies, he said, adding that "economics and security are indivisible" in the region.

While unlikely to please Beijing, Sunak's message was somewhat toned down from that on the campaign trail, when he called China the "number one threat" to domestic and global security.

- 'Deeply disturbing' -

The speech came as tensions were further strained between the two nations after Ed Lawrence, working in China as an accredited BBC journalist, was arrested at a Covid lockdown protest in Shanghai and detained for several hours.

The UK broadcaster says he was assaulted and kicked by police.

After his release, Lawrence tweeted on Monday to thank his followers, adding he believed "at least one local national was arrested after trying to stop the police from beating me".

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly called the incident "deeply disturbing".

"Media freedom and freedom to protest must be respected. No country is exempt," he tweeted.

"Journalists must be able to do their job without intimidation."

Sunak stressed that the media "must be able to highlight these issues without sanction, including calling out abuses in Xinjiang -- and the curtailment of freedom in Hong Kong."

Security minister Tom Tugendhat said Lawrence's arrest was "an echo of the repression the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is attempting elsewhere".

"China's attempts at state repression here in the UK remind us of the urgent need to defend our own freedoms," he said, after reports emerged of China operating undeclared police outposts in foreign countries including Britain.

Hundreds of people took to the streets in China's major cities on Sunday in a rare outpouring of public anger against the state over its zero-Covid policy.

The BBC said it was "extremely concerned", after Lawrence was filmed being hauled away at one of the protests in Shanghai.

"We have had no official explanation or apology from the Chinese authorities, beyond a claim by the officials who later released him that they had arrested him for his own good in case he caught Covid from the crowd," it said.

"We do not consider this a credible explanation."

China's foreign ministry said on Monday that Lawrence had not identified himself as a journalist.

"Based on what we learned from relevant Shanghai authorities, he did not identify himself as a journalist and didn't voluntarily present his press credentials," foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said.

He told international media to "follow Chinese laws and regulations while in China".

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China protests speak to deep political frustrations
Beijing (AFP) Nov 28, 2022
Protests spreading in China have been catalysed by fury at the government's hardline zero-Covid policies but have also exposed deep-rooted frustration against the country's wider political system. People took to the streets across China on Sunday to call for an end to lockdowns and for greater political freedoms, in a wave of widespread protest not seen since pro-democracy rallies in 1989. A deadly fire last week in Urumqi, the capital of northwest China's Xinjiang region, sparked public anger, ... read more