Australian Mining Executive Accused of Spying on China (1 Viewer)

[sam04u]

Beijing accuses Rio of spying as Australia is shocked at arrest of mining executives | The Australian

AUSTRALIA and China are on a diplomatic collision course after a senior Australian mining executive was arrested in Shanghai by secret police on charges of espionage and theft of state secrets.

The arrest of Stern Hu, the general manager for China operations at Rio Tinto's iron ore division, prompted speculation that it was linked to fraught negotiations over Australian iron ore exports to China.

Despite Mr Hu's arrest on Sunday, along with three Chinese colleagues, and diplomatic approaches to Chinese authorities in Beijing, Canberra and Shanghai, by last night Australian consular officials had yet to gain access to the executive.

Speaking in Perth last night, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith confirmed Mr Hu and the three other Rio officials were being held on suspicion of espionage and stealing state secrets.

"We're continuing to seek explanations for the reasons for the detention," he said.

"I've also seen speculation that Mr Hu's detention may be linked to commercial matters between Rio Tinto and China; I've seen no evidence and I have no basis for any such speculation but I do underline that when our officials were advised of the reason for the detention, that came as a surprise to us as it came as a surprise to Rio."

Now the speculation is that it might have been white collar crimes against Chinese national interests but I still don't see how that constitutes spying.

Espionage: spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information.

I don't believe it is as simple as that though because as of yet there has been no mention of it on the Chinese-Australian embassy website which usually does release information a lot sooner than most media sources especially when they pertain to these sorts of matters.

EMBASSY OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA IN AUSTRALIA

This has genuinely captured my interest. So for some speculation of our own.

1) Was he really spying?
2) If he was spying for whom was he spying?
3) Is it within our right to demand more information or a premature release?

 

[B_B_J]

Well that guy is a walking corpse.

 

[banco55]

Beijing accuses Rio of spying as Australia is shocked at arrest of mining executives | The Australian

Now the speculation is that it might have been white collar crimes against Chinese national interests but I still don't see how that constitutes spying.

Espionage: spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information.

I think China probably has a rather more expansive definition of espionage than Australia.

 

[loquasagacious]

Perhaps Rio Tinto has been engaging in some espionage independent of any Australian Government involvement? They certainly have the motivation for it, and could certainly afford to fund it...

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

Bloody China. They execute anybody accused of corruption or spying (which is ironic because corruption is the only valid way for a business to stay afloat over there). What a fucking backwater.

I highly doubt the Chinese claims are even true. They seem to be just using some poors saps as scapegoats so Australia can see them flex their muscles after we didn't cave in over Rio Tinto or ore price discounts.

But if you ask me it's a stupid move because it won't solve either problem for them but it will make Australians even more wary of China and Chinese investment. Apparently the main guy accused of this rubbish is really well known in the Australian-Chinese business community and lots of businessmen are scared and worried about China's behaviour w.r.t. him. Not a good business environment to project for a country which supposedly wants to expand its economy.

As if the mobile execution vans didn't give that away.

 

[Serius]

Maybe they were doing some shady underhanded business tactics, hacked some computers to see if chinese companies would pay more money for ore, something like that.

We probably wont be seeing those guys again.

 

[sam04u]

Shit just got real:

Shipments of Brazilian iron ore to China have surged, while those from Australia have shrunk.

Shipments from Australia's Iron Ore ports to China have plummeted from 55 in March in to about 12 this month.

Meanwhile, shipments from Brazil, Australia's main competitor for Iron Ore, have grown to a record 31.

Basically our main shield from the economic crisis might have just come to an end. Something like $32bn in exports of iron ore alone are made from the trade agreements between ourselves and the Chinese. We basically can't afford the strain on our relationship the imprisonment of this Hu (Who?) character is causing between ourselves.

More importantly we need to commit more to the Chinese in terms of the ongoing power struggle between NATO and BRIC member states. Basically China would have little to no problem getting more resources from Brazil as opposed to Australia and it is in our interest to side with them in the event that tensions would worsen.

We can see now that the Western economic model is on it's last legs. You can't retain power by holding guns and moving numbers around on a screen.

 

[zstar]

China has greenbacks it has to dump.

Buying up every mine, oil field, plant is part of that strategy before mass printing in the U.S leads to inflation.

 

[JonathanM]

We're acting as China's bitch here, rightfully so in a way, seeing as we have such a huge vested interest in our economic ties with the nation. Doesn't help my nationalistic pride to have as leaning over backwards for them all the time, though.

 

[Uncle]

Don't carry out espionage without training in CQC or being armed with a weapon.

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

Shit just got real:



Basically our main shield from the economic crisis might have just come to an end. Something like $32bn in exports of iron ore alone are made from the trade agreements between ourselves and the Chinese. We basically can't afford the strain on our relationship the imprisonment of this Hu (Who?) character is causing between ourselves.

More importantly we need to commit more to the Chinese in terms of the ongoing power struggle between NATO and BRIC member states. Basically China would have little to no problem getting more resources from Brazil as opposed to Australia and it is in our interest to side with them in the event that tensions would worsen.

We can see now that the Western economic model is on it's last legs. You can't retain power by holding guns and moving numbers around on a screen.

LOL, that's not what you think.

Australian supplies fell, not Chinese demand.

 

[B_B_J]

omg omg watch liberals chuck a fit beause a few stats are fucked up over the next quarter.