Ministers struck a memorandum of understanding with two far east companies in March, but it is understood the arrangement has now been cancelled.
Bizarrely, the SNP has now blamed opposition parties for criticising the move as a reason for the collapse of the deal, which was said to be worth up to £10 billion.
While the Scottish Conservatives were critical of the SNP attempting to keep the deal secret, the party was broadly welcoming of an arrangement which could boost the Scottish economy.
As such, ministers have been urged to get back to the drawing board to see if the investment can be revived.
Scottish Conservative shadow economy secretary Dean Lockhart said:
“This whole episode has shown the SNP just can’t be trusted with economic matters.
“It thought it had struck gold, tried and failed to keep it a secret, and now doesn’t seem to know what’s going on.
“It doesn’t just look amateurish for the SNP, it damages Scotland’s credibility too.
“We now need a calm assessment of all this to see if a potentially lucrative deal with China can be reached.
“These things can’t be allowed to fall through because of SNP bungling.”