Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he raised the issue of detained mining executive Stern Hu (胡士泰) during talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) because the case was a “matter of concern” to Australia.
Rudd met the Chinese leader on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Thailand on Saturday and the pair discussed climate change and trade along with the continued detention of the Rio Tinto iron ore negotiator in Shanghai.
ALLEGATIONS
Australian passport holder Hu was arrested in July, along with three other Rio Tinto colleagues, and faces allegations of corporate espionage and bribery.
“In the discussion I had with Premier Wen, I indicated we had continuing consulate matters which need to be resolved between our foreign ministers, and this included representatives of the Australian company Rio Tinto,” Rudd said.
“My purpose in raising these matters today was simply to highlight the fact that this is a continuing matter of concern to Australia,” he told reporters in Thailand on Saturday.
SOBERING SIGNAL
The detention of Hu, Rio Tinto’s lead negotiator on iron ore prices in Shanghai, has raised diplomatic concerns between Australia and key market China and sent a sobering message to the business community.
Hu originally faced more serious allegations of stealing state secrets, but Beijing softened its case, which Australia has attributed to the “internal pressure” of its diplomatic efforts.
On Friday, Australian officials confirmed that the investigation against Hu had been extended but said the full details of the charges against him would probably not be known until he faced trial.
The death of a former head of China’s one-child policy has been met not by tributes, but by castigation of the abandoned policy on social media this week. State media praised Peng Peiyun (彭珮雲), former head of China’s National Family Planning Commission from 1988 to 1998, as “an outstanding leader” in her work related to women and children. The reaction on Chinese social media to Peng’s death in Beijing on Sunday, just shy of her 96th birthday, was less positive. “Those children who were lost, naked, are waiting for you over there” in the afterlife, one person posted on China’s Sina Weibo platform. China’s
‘NO COUNTRY BUMPKIN’: The judge rejected arguments that former prime minister Najib Razak was an unwitting victim, saying Najib took steps to protect his position Imprisoned former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak was yesterday convicted, following a corruption trial tied to multibillion-dollar looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state investment fund. The nation’s high court found Najib, 72, guilty on four counts of abuse of power and 21 charges of money laundering related to more than US$700 million channeled into his personal bank accounts from the 1MDB fund. Najib denied any wrongdoing, and maintained the funds were a political donation from Saudi Arabia and that he had been misled by rogue financiers led by businessman Low Taek Jho. Low, thought to be the scandal’s mastermind, remains
Shamans in Peru on Monday gathered for an annual New Year’s ritual where they made predictions for the year to come, including illness for US President Donald Trump and the downfall of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. “The United States should prepare itself because Donald Trump will fall seriously ill,” Juan de Dios Garcia proclaimed as he gathered with other shamans on a beach in southern Lima, dressed in traditional Andean ponchos and headdresses, and sprinkling flowers on the sand. The shamans carried large posters of world leaders, over which they crossed swords and burned incense, some of which they stomped on. In this
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday announced plans for a national bravery award to recognize civilians and first responders who confronted “the worst of evil” during an anti-Semitic terror attack that left 15 dead and has cast a heavy shadow over the nation’s holiday season. Albanese said he plans to establish a special honors system for those who placed themselves in harm’s way to help during the attack on a beachside Hanukkah celebration, like Ahmed al-Ahmed, a Syrian-Australian Muslim who disarmed one of the assailants before being wounded himself. Sajid Akram, who was killed by police during the Dec. 14 attack, and
RSS