China’s state secrets watchdog has accused mining multinational Rio Tinto of engaging in commercial spying over six years, saying data on Rio computers showed the espionage came at a huge loss to China.
The report and other comments from the agency said the case of four Rio employees detained and accused of espionage, including one Australian, could foreshadow stricter controls on how foreign companies do business in China.
Rio has said its employees did nothing unethical and did not bribe Chinese steel mills for information.
The report issued by China’s National Administration for the Protection of State Secrets said Rio Tinto’s commercial spying involved “winning over and buying off, prying out intelligence, routing one by one, and gaining things by deceit” over six years.
“The large amount of intelligence and data from our country’s steel sector found on Rio Tinto’s computers and the massive damage to our national economic security and interests are plainly obvious,” said the Chinese-language report, issued on the administration’s Web site on Saturday.
China has detained the Rio workers — Australian Stern Hu (胡士泰) and three Chinese colleagues — on allegations of stealing state secrets about iron ore price negotiations.
The detentions have raised worries about doing business in China, strained ties with Australia and overshadowed critical price talks.
Rio’s share price, however, has been little affected.
The new Chinese report said Rio’s spying meant Chinese steel makers paid more than 700 billion yuan (US$102 billion) more for imported iron ore than they otherwise would have.
It did not explain how it arrived at this estimate.
A Rio spokeswoman in Australia said yesterday she was unaware of the Chinese report and declined to comment further.
The report from the secrets watchdog suggests the Chinese government is unlikely to drop the Rio case and could instead use it as a springboard for tougher information controls on domestic and foreign businesses.
It said the case should force Chinese officials and firms to do more to protect sensitive information, and that foreign businesses in China must come under stricter controls to deter them from spying.
“Our country has entered a peak period of commercial espionage warfare, and the threat to important economic intelligence and security of national economic activity increases by the day,” the report said.
The report and others on the agency’s Web site said the government should spell out more clearly what commercial data count as official secrets.
Contacts between local officials, experts and managers and foreign businesses should also be more strictly controlled, the report on Rio said, adding that “traitors” were enriching themselves at the expense of Chinese businesses.
“The Rio Tinto spying case has again sounded the alarm over secrets protection by our country’s state-owned enterprises and corporations,” Luo Jianghuai, a secrets protection official, wrote in an essay accompanying the report on Rio.
Luo said multinationals used Chinese staff with experience in local businesses and government to illicitly gain information and influence.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS