China recently urged the new Libyan government to think very seriously about how they go about protecting their investments and clearly reminded the Libyans that their former oil trade would be beneficial to both of their countries and should be maintained. Their concerns were voiced after a Libyan rebel announced Chinese oil companies may well lose out on contracts now that they have ousted Muammar Gaddafi.

Wen Zhongliang, the deputy head of their Commerce Ministry’s trade department was responding to questions about AGOCO,  the Libyan oil firm (now rebel-owned) as to whether the Russians and Chinese could face losing  their oil contracts as they did not act to support the rebellion. Mr Wen pointed out to a news conference that:

"China's investment in Libya, especially its oil investment, is one aspect of mutual economic cooperation between China and Libya, and this cooperation is in the mutual interest of both the people of China and Libya … we hope that after a return to stability in Libya, Libya will continue to protect the interests and rights of Chinese investors and we hope to continue investment and economic cooperation with Libya,"

Should this warning from the AGOCO rebels be put into action, it would give China some genuine problems. China is the second biggest oil consumer in the world and the year before they imported more than 3% of  crude oil from Libya.  That said, Yin Gang, another expert on Arab affairs, believed there wasn’t any cause for alarm:

"This was one individual's opinion. I can say in four words: They would not dare; they would not dare change any contracts … Libya is still in a state of chaos and hasn't formed a government. There are certainly different views among the rebels”.

James is an economist and financial journalist. He blogs about all things financial, from loans to interest rates and from mortgages to umbrella companies .