The Scottish Government will continue to try to attract investment from China, Nicola Sturgeon has said, despite the collapse of a possible £10 billion deal which has been branded as an "embarrassing saga" for her administration.
Tory leader Ruth Davidson accused the First Minister of blaming everyone else for the collapse of the deal - which only became public knowledge when it was revealed by newspapers.
Read more: Scottish Government urged to come clean on failed £10bn China deal
Chinese state-backed companies SinoFortone and China Railway No3 Engineering Group (CR3) withdrew from the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which was signed back in March, in an email to the Scottish Government in August.
Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie also attacked the First Minister, saying that "surely she is responsible for the collapse of this and nobody else".
Ms Sturgeon said ministers had not initially taken the email from the Chinese firms as a cancellation of the MoU, saying it "did not commit us to any particular investment but it did commit us to exploring opportunities for such investment".
Read more: Scottish Government urged to come clean on failed £10bn China deal
She told MSPs that the Government was made aware in August "that due to the political climate our partners in that memorandum of understanding felt that they could not proceed at this time".
She added: "We did not take that as a cancellation of the memorandum of understanding, we remained committed then as we remain committed now to pursuing all opportunities for investment."
The First Minister added the Government will "continue to try to attract investment from China, from other countries, from anywhere that wants to invest in Scotland in reasonable investment proposals".
She criticised rival party leaders, saying: "We have an opposition that demanded the cancellation of this memorandum of understanding, we have an opposition that had a hysterical over-the-top reaction to this memorandum of understanding.
"So, while I take responsibility for learning lessons, I really do think the opposition also have to reflect on their behaviour, which led to a political climate in which these partners felt they couldn't proceed."
She also blasted the Conservatives, saying it was "double standards on stilts" for Ms Davidson to raise the China deal with her when the Conservative government at Westminster has failed to answer questions on a reported deal with car manufacturers Nissan over Brexit.
Read more: Scottish Government urged to come clean on failed £10bn China deal
The SNP leader said: "Ruth Davidson is the representative of a party that has apparently made commitments to Nissan and yet refuses to publish the letter telling us what those commitments are, commitments that might actually carry a price tag for the taxpayer.
"I don't think the Conservatives have got any excuse to lecture anybody when it comes to trade and investment because let's not forget the Conservative Party is the one that wants to rip Scotland out of the EU, out of the single market against our will and that is what is going to have such a damaging impact on jobs and investment in this country."
Ms Sturgeon and Ms Davidson clashed on the issue at First Minister's Questions in Holyrood, where the Tory MSP said: "I cannot believe the First Minister is persisting to come to the chamber today to say that the Chinese Communist Party pulled the plug on this deal because they heard the Scottish Liberal Democrats roar.
"This entire saga is embarrassing, it is embarrassing for the government and I think it is embarrassing for our country,
"Because if we spell out what was at stake here - or what we're now told was at stake here because it was hidden at the time - it was £10 billion that could have been invested in housing and transport, and that's exactly the kind of investment you would expect the Scottish Government to pull out all the stops to secure."
Read more: Scottish Government urged to come clean on failed £10bn China deal
Ms Davidson demanded: "Rather than blaming us, or blaming Brexit, or blaming the weather, will the First Minister remove the shroud of secrecy from deals like these and be straight with the Scottish people?"
The First Minister told her: "To talk about a shroud of secrecy when her party is refusing to publish details of the commitments that have been given to Nissan, frankly, is double standards on stilts."
Mr Rennie then said: "At the risk of being accused of hysteria I hope the First Minister will not mind me asking questions about the collapse of the Chinese deal."
Campaigners at Amnesty International have raised concerns about the human-rights record of one of the companies involved, CR3, he said
"Has she done an investigation into their human rights record?" he demanded. "I suspect not, she's not even bothered."
Mr Rennie continued: "Ruth Davidson was absolutely spot on - she has blamed everybody else in this chamber for the collapse of this deal but she hasn't even bothered to pick up the phone.
Read more: Scottish Government urged to come clean on failed £10bn China deal
"Surely she is responsible for the collapse of this and nobody else."
Ms Sturgeon said the Lib Dem leader "is the opposition politician chiefly who has been demanding we cancel this deal ever since he knew about it".
She added: "Willie Rennie has to make up his mind - either he wanted the deal cancelled or he wanted me to pick up the phone to try to retrieve and rescue it, he can't have it both ways.
"When we have partners saying the reason they feel they cannot proceed with investment is because of the political climate created, we have the right to question who contributed to creating that political climate."
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