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Rio Tinto Limited Shanghai Representative Office in Shanghai - Source: Reuters -
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China has told Australian diplomats they will not be given
access to part of the trial of an Australian employee of Rio Tinto
charged with commercial spying, Canberra said.
Australia has registered its disappointment with Beijing over the
ruling but will not make further attempts to allow officials
access, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
said.
The case threatens to re-ignite tensions, but Australian Trade
Minister Simon Crean said earlier it would not damage trade
relations.
"If there were links, you would have expected the trade had fallen,
yet last year China became our largest trading partner The two
matters are separate," Crean told Australian radio.
"We've never sought to make any link and neither have the
Chinese in their discussions with us," Crean said.
The case caused friction between Australia and China in mid-2009
amid a drive among Chinese companies to buy more Australian raw
materials, such as iron ore and coal.
Ties have since recovered, yet could again be soured depending on
the outcome of the trial.
China arrested four Rio staff members, including Australian citizen
Stern Hu, last July and will start their trial in Shanghai on March
22 on charges of bribery and stealing business secrets.
The trial will be open for hearing of bribery charges.
But charges of infringement of commercial secrets will be held
behind closed doors.
China is Australia's biggest trade partner, with trade worth $74
billion last year.
Australia shipped $21 billion in iron ore to China in 2008, or
41% of Chinese iron ore imports.
But the Rio case has placed a cloud over contentious iron ore price
negotiations underway between Chinese steel mills and the world's
three largest iron ore miners: Rio, fellow Australian miner BHP
Billiton and Brazil's Vale.
Rio's China team managed details of term contracts for iron ore, a
necessary raw material for China's vast steel industry, as well as
tracking market information.
Crean said Beijing could keep the trial completely separate from
the delicate iron ore talks, despite pressure from Chinese
steelmakers for Beijing to become involved in the
negotiations.
"We've told them that we're not going to deal government to
government. We recognised China as a market economy. We keep
telling them they've got to act like one," he said.
"It's market forces that determine the price and I must say that
there hasn't been a representation made to us by government
recently."
Foreign journalists have so far been unable to get access to the
trial, despite the fact that a portion, on the charge of accepting
bribes, would be open.
The Shanghai Superior Court said on Friday morning that Reuters
would be able to apply for access to the trial, but by afternoon
referred inquiries to the Intermediate Court, where the trial is
being held.
The office in charge of processing applications in the Intermediate
Court did not answer repeated phone calls on Friday, while its fax
machine was turned off.
