Australia expresses concern about China's Rio Tinto trial

“This is just an individual business case. It should not be politicized or bring a negative impact on Australia-China relations,” Qin told a regular news conference.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd also suggested the trial could affect China's international reputation, saying “the world will be watching how this particular case is conducted.”

Rio Tinto has repeatedly said it hopes the case will be handled quickly and transparently. Rio Tinto CEO Tom Albanese is due to be in China on Monday attending a forum on China's role in the world economy.

The trial is being closely watched in business circles, especially the mining and resources industry that is becoming increasingly dependent on China to drive global demand.

It also comes as Beijing tries to tighten control over China's dozens of steel producers and consolidate the industry through mergers. As with other important industries, the state owns many of the biggest steel mills and views their profitability as a strategic priority.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said consulate officials would attend open sessions of the trial involving the bribery allegation and had asked the court to reconsider its decision to keep sessions dealing with charges of infringing business secrets closed.

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.

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.

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

As the world's biggest steel producer and consumer of iron ore, China has sought to convince Rio Tinto and other suppliers to give its mills lower prices than those paid by Japan and South Korea.

1|2

PrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email