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 [...]

Chinese Industrial Espionage In America

Bloomberg provides a counterpoint to the industrial espionage charges brought against four Rio Tinto employees. It reports that
more than 50 people have been prosecuted in the U.S. since 2006 for allegedly transporting restricted technology, stealing trade secrets or conducting business espionage for China, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
Noting the relatively rarity of prosecutions being [...]

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 [...]

The Battle For China’s Steel

The Economic Observer says the investigation into the leaking of China’s negotiating position at the iron-ore price negotiations earlier this year that has resulted in the detention without charge of four Rio Tinto employers has widened to include Baosteel, the largest steel company. (China Daily has reported that all 16 of the leading steel mills [...]

Doing Business In China: The Hostage Issue

Dan Harris over at China Law Blog has a horrifying tale from the rep. office in China of what we assume is a U.S. company. The company was declaring bankruptcy and sent an executive to China to inform suppliers that they wouldn’t be getting paid. The suppliers didn’t just take umbrage; they took hostages, forcibly [...]

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 [...]

Rio Arrests Tip Of New Anti-Corruption Crackdown?

Knives are being sharpened. China Daily is suggesting that Rio Tinto has been engaged in widespread bribery in the steel industry, with the natural resources company bribing executives from all 16 steel mills involved in the iron ore price talks. Five Chinese steel executives are now said to be under investigation. Is this the [...]

Thoughts On Foreign Capital And China’s National Economic Security

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post about the shifting sands of economic security policy, this Bystander passes on this paper from 2007, Economic Security: Redressing Imbalance, as an informative piece of background. It is written by Jiang Yong, director of the Economic Security Research Center at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, which does policy [...]

Detention Of Rio Execs May Signal Shift In China’s Economic Security Policy

In any commercial negotiation, intelligence about the other side’s intentions is invaluable. At some point gathering information becomes corporate espionage. Where the line between the two is drawn is rarely clear, and in China, perhaps, murkier than in most places, and more a political than legal decision.
The detention without charge of Rio Tinto’s chief iron-ore [...]