China to begin trial of 4 Rio Tinto employees

The company recently appointed a new top executive for China and on Friday it announced an agreement with China's state-run aluminum giant Chinalco to develop an iron ore reserve in the West African country of Guinea.

Rio Tinto CEO Tom Albanese is due to attend a forum on China's role in the world economy in Beijing on Monday.

Lawmakers in Australia have urged their government to push more forcefully for an open trial.

"The world will be watching how this particular case is conducted," Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said after the trial date was announced.

Almost all criminal cases that go to trial in China end in conviction. The maximum penalty for commercial espionage is seven years in prison if the case is found to have caused extreme damage. The maximum penalty for taking large bribes is five years.

China treats a wide range of commercial information as state secrets. Chinese reports that the Rio employees were originally suspected of obtaining state secrets suggest they may have been caught up in an effort to control information exchanged during the iron ore talks.

The trial begins as China is again bogged down in iron ore price negotiations with foreign miners.

China has sought to convince Rio Tinto and other suppliers to give its mills lower prices than those paid by Japan and South Korea. Miners reportedly are seeking price hikes of 90 percent or more this year.

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