Ore company workers face Chinese bribery trial

Four workers for mining giant Rio Tinto went on trial in China today accused of stealing secrets and offering bribes.

Their case is seen as a barometer of China’s handling of foreign business but the country has warned against politicising it.

The trial comes at a time of friction with the US over China’s currency policies and doubts among some in the foreign business community over Beijing’s commitment to an open and fair business environment.

Australian citizen Stern Hu and three Chinese nationals were arrested nine months ago when Rio Tinto was acting as lead negotiator for global iron ore suppliers in price talks with Chinese steel mills. Hu was Rio Tinto’s senior executive in China in charge of iron ore.

The four were taken into a Shanghai court early today out of the public eye.

Few details of the allegations against the suspects have been made public, and they have not been allowed any public comment since their arrest.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was disappointed with the Chinese court’s decision not to allow its consular officials to attend sessions having to do with commercial secrets.

It said Hu’s lawyer, Duan Qihua, would be present throughout the trial.

Rio Tinto has repeatedly said it hopes the case will be handled quickly and transparently. In the meantime, it is moving ahead with its business in China, the world’s biggest steel maker and its biggest consumer of iron ore.

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

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that his government will be monitoring the trial closely.

“China has a different legal system to Australia. China has a different legal system to the rest of the world,” he said. “The world will be watching very closely how the trial is handled.”

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.