BEIJING warned yesterday that a British television documentary which claims thousands of children have died in mainland orphanages will hurt Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind's visit to China.
Mr Rifkind, currently in Hong Kong, is due to arrive in Beijing tomorrow . . . the same day as the documentary, Return to the Dying Rooms, is to be broadcast in Britain by Channel 4.
A first secretary at the Chinese Embassy in London, Liu Jianchao, claimed the documentary would 'poison the atmosphere between China and Britain'.
'It is a very bad move, very detrimental,' he said.
Mr Liu also warned it would not be 'conducive' to Mr Rifkind's trip, during which he was expected to raise human rights, trade and Hong Kong issues.
However, as Channel 4 announced it would not shelve the documentary, the Foreign Office said there was no reason it should affect Mr Rifkind's trip.
A spokesman was not aware of any approaches to the British Government over the issue, but said the Foreign Office was concerned about allegations in the Human Rights Watch/ Asia report published yesterday, on which the programme was based.