Message to Xu Lejiang: telling the 21st Century Business Herald that you are considering a $200bn offer for Rio Tinto isn’t enough to get you to the negotiating table.

Mr Xu, chairman of Baosteel Group, probably knew as much when he used an interview with the Chinese business newspaper to suggest the steelmaker was a potential counter-bidder for the UK-based miner. If he were serious, then the Takeover Panel, which governs the conduct of bids in the British market, would probably tell Baosteel to clarify its intentions. If he is merely making mischief – as seems more likely – then the Panel is likely to have assumed that Rio shareholders are grown-up enough to recognise the comments as part of the round of (mainly sterile) speculation unleashed by BHP-Billiton’s approach for the rival miner.