China Drops State Secrets Charge in Rio Tinto Case

On Tuesday, Chinese authorities formally arrested and charged four employees of Australian mining company Rio Tinto. The employees, including Australian citizen Stern Hu, have been detained since July 5.

They were originally accused of violating China’s ambiguous state secrets law. But when prosecutors announced formal charges this week, they didn’t include the state secrets charge—instead charging the four of them with commercial bribery and trade secrets infringement. These are still criminal charges, but carry much lighter potential prison sentences than stealing state secrets.

Rio Tinto strongly denies the charges. They said in an August 12th press release that they believe their employees have “acted properly and ethically in their business dealings in China.”

The whole incident has strained relations between China and Australia. And some analysts say the lighter charges may be an attempt at reducing diplomatic tension.

(NTDTV)