No Progress In Rio 4 Case

Kevin Rudd, Australia’s prime minister, seems to have to no change out of his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao when the two discussed the case of Stern Hu and three of his Rio Tinto colleagues who were detained by Chinese authorities in July on suspicion of stealing state secrets. Speaking on the sidelines of the ASEAN [...]

Rio Four Formally Charged

The Rio Four have finally been formally arrested on charges of  infringing trade secrets and bribery, Xinhua reports. A statement from the Supreme People’s Procurate said prosecutors approved the arrest of the four Rio Tinto employees, that investigations had showed they obtained China’s commercial secrets through improper means and that there was evidence of bribery [...]

A Clue To When The Rio Four Will Be Charged Or Released?

Conspiracy theorists start here: Xinhua has a report on the growing dispute with Australia over the detention without charge of four Rio Tinto executives, one an Australian citizen, on allegations of stealing state secrets. It is titled, China Striving To Create Fair Trading Environment, so you get its drift. But it concludes with the following tantalizing [...]

Canberra Getting Antsy Over Rio 4

Australia trade minister Simon Crean has called on Beijing to lay charges or release detained Rio Tinto sales executive Stern Hu, an Australian citizen, and three Chinese colleagues. The four men are accused of stealing state secrets in connection with the iron-ore price negotiations earlier this year. Rio had denied the allegations. The quartet has [...]

Will Australia Please U.S. By Taking Gitmo Uighurs–Or Please China By Not

U.S. President Barack Obama has dropped a hot potato in the lap of Australia’s pro-Beijing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. He has asked him to take at least six and as many as 10 of the remaining 17 Uighurs being held at Guantanamo Bay.
Beijing wants them all returned. The U.S. won’t do that because of fears in [...]

Hunan Valin Gets Australia’s Approval For Fortescue Stake

The second of the three big outstanding Chinese investments in Australian natural resources companies has got the nod of approval from Canberra. Hunan Valin Iron and Steel can go ahead with taking a $438 million stake in Fortescue Metals. The decision comes less than a week after Australia barred another state-owned Chinese firm, Minmetals, from [...]

Will Australia Retaliate For Coca-Cola’s Blocked China Bid?

As the dust settles on Beijing’s decision to block Coca-Cola’s $2.3 billion bid for Huiyuan Juice on antitrust grounds, how does Chinalco’s proposed $19.5 billion investment in Rio Tinto look?
Chinese officials have been quick to stress that the Huiyan decision, which stopped what would have been the largest foreign investment in China, was not [...]

Rio Tinto Confident Chinalco Deal Will Pass Australian Regualtors

Rio Tinto’s chief strategy officer, Doug Ritchie, says he is confident Chinalco’s proposed $19.5 billion capital injection will pass muster with the Australian regulators. The country’s Foreign Investment Review Board is seen as a key hurdle for the deal to clear, given the misgivings it has previously expressed about the state-owned aluminum company’s potential sway [...]

Chinalco Gets Australia’s Limited Nod For Rio Tinto Stake

Australia is walking a fine line over Chinese investment in its natural resources. It has approved Chinalco’s recent purchase of a minority stake in Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto, but said any further share purchases will require prior approval. Nor can Chinalco have a seat on Rio’s board, Wayne Swan, Australia’s Federal Treasurer, ruled on Sunday.
State-owned [...]

Beijing Looking To Lease Foreign Farmland

China has already gone abroad to secure supplies of energy and minerals by investing in mines and oil fields, so why not do the same for food? The Beijing Morning Post quotes Xie Guoli, a senior trade promotion official with the agriculture ministry, as saying that China is looking at leasing farmland in Russia, South [...]