China yesterday warned against politicizing the trial of four Rio Tinto employees, including an Australian, in a case that has badly strained relations between the two countries.
“It will not and should not be politicized,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang (秦剛) told reporters.
His comments came after Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd earlier yesterday warned China the “world will be watching” next week’s trial of Stern Hu and three Chinese colleagues on bribery and industrial espionage charges.
Australia said its diplomats should have full access to the trial.
The detention of the four, along with Google’s dispute over Internet censorship and hacking complaints, has stoked investors’ worries about doing business in China.
The case initially caused tensions between Australia and China, but ties have since recovered, yet could again be soured depending on the outcome of the trial.
China arrested four Rio staff members, including Hu, an Australian citizen, in July and will start their trial in Shanghai on Monday 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,” Smith told reporters.
Despite the trial, and the collapse of a US$19.5 billion deal with state-owned aluminum firm Chinalco, Rio is now working with Chinalco on potential joint ventures in Mongolia and chief executive Tom Albanese is to visit Beijing at the weekend.
China is Australia’s biggest trade partner, with trade worth US$53 billion last year. Australia exported US$15 billion worth of iron ore to China in 2008, or 41 percent of China’s iron ore imports.
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, they can appeal.
Michael Danby, an influential lawmaker and chair of the Australian parliament’s foreign affairs sub-committee, said the detention of foreign businesspeople would ultimately damage China’s political and economic relations with other nations.
“I do know that this prosecution is essentially political in nature and that if the Chinese Communist authorities decided that it was in their interests to drop the charges against him, they could and would do so,” Danby said in a statement.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was