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Employees at Rio Tinto Limited Shanghai Representative Office in Shanghai - Source: Reuters -
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Australia urged China to allow its diplomats access to the entire trial of four Rio Tinto staff charged with commercial spying and said on Thursday that China's handling of the case will come under close scrutiny.
"The world will be watching how this particular court case is conducted," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters, adding the government would do everything necessary to support the interest of the Anglo-Australian miner's staff.
The detention of the four has stoked investors' worries about doing business in China's murky legal environment.
China arrested four Rio staff members, including Australian citizen Stern Hu last July and will start their trial in Shanghai next week on charges of bribery and stealing business secrets.
The trial will be open to hear bribery charges and closed to deal with infringement of commercial secrets charges but Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australian diplomats should have access to these under a consular pact with Beijing.
"I was disappointed that there was an indication from Chinese officials and the court that Australian officials would not be present, or be able to be present, for the commercial information charge," he told reporters.
Under the commercial secrets charge, courts can jail people for up to three years, or up to seven years in serious cases. The bribery charge could draw jail terms of up to 20 years.
Rio has said the four did nothing wrong. If convicted, the men can appeal.
The case has caused tensions between Australia and China and placed a cloud over contentious iron ore price negotiations between China and miners Rio, its 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.
China and Rio had hard feelings even before the arrests, following the collapse of a deal by Chinese state-owned aluminium firm, Chinalco, to increase its stake in Rio.
Traditionally, Asian steel mills accept whatever deal is settled first with the big three global ore suppliers. China's steel industry association refused to settle on that price last year and this year, the Chinese side asked the government to step into the talks.
China is Australia's biggest trade partner, with trade worth $53 billion last year. Australia exported $15 billion worth of iron ore to China in 2008, or 41% of China's iron ore imports.
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