The language of matrimony may often be invoked to describe corporate tie-ups; bust-ups too. But Rio Tinto's broken engagement with Chinalco of China prompted one of Beijing's more strident state-controlled newspapers to run an editorial last weekend that, in accusing the Anglo-Australian resources group of infidelity, made an elaborate contribution to the genre.

“Poor Chinalco prepared the wedding clothes but when the peach was ripe somebody else plucked it,” the Beijing Times opined. “Rio Tinto is just like an unfaithful woman: once she loved the money in Chinalco's pocket but she actually didn't love the man himself. Now she is breaking faith and kicking down the ladder.”

Rio's decision to reject a $19.5bn (￡11.9bn, €13.9bn) investment package from the Chinese mining giant is being seen by senior leaders in Beijing as a blow to Chinese prestige. It triggers painful memories of a similar debacle in 2005, when political opposition in Washington blocked China National Offshore Oil Corp's $18.5bn attempt to acquire Unocal, the US energy company.