What happens when China does't get what it wants..

[rev]

China detains four Rio Tinto employees

AAP

July 08, 2009 02:00pm

* Four executives held in China
* Company says reasons are "unclear"
* Rio Tinto: Share chart

AUSTRALIAN authorities are seeking urgent consular access to a Rio Tinto executive who has been detained in Shanghai.

In a statement Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed an Australian was detained in China.

"We are seeking urgent consular access,'' the statement said.

The DFAT statement said authorities were "not yet able to comment on the reason for his detention''.

"Consular staff of the Shanghai Consulate-General and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra are in communication with the man's family and his employer,'' DFAT said.

Reasons unclear

Rio Tinto, the world's third largest mining company, confirmed a total of four company employees from its Shanghai office had been detained for questioning by Chinese authorities.

"The reasons for these actions are unclear,'' Rio Tinto said.

"We intend to co-operate fully with any investigation the Chinese authorities may wish to undertake and have sought clarification on what has occurred.

"We are concerned about our people's wellbeing and are doing everything we can to help them and support their families.''

It is understood Australian passport holder Stern Hu is one of the four executives, who are thought to have been detained since Sunday.

The other Rio Tinto employees detained are believed to be Chinese passport holders.

Bitter negotiations

The arrests come against the background of recent bitter negotiations over iron ore sale contracts and Chinese anger over Rio Tinto's decision earlier this year to abandon a $US19.5 billion ($24.49 billion) merger with state-owned Chinalco.

Rio's iron ore team avoided meeting in China for more than a month holding talks in Hong Kong and Singapore instead out of fears their phones and emails were being bugged and that key information was finding its way straight back to the China Iron & Steel Association.

Officers from China's Public Security Bureau are also believed to have raided Rio's Shanghai's offices this week and removed computers used by each of the four executives.

Speculation the arrests could be related to alleged manipulation of the iron ore market is unconfirmed.

"Rio Tinto is concerned about the employees' well-being and is doing everything possible to help them and support their families," the company said in a statement.

http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0 ... 62,00.html

Just imagine what could be happening if the merger actually went ahead...

[Briggzy_03]

Just imagine what could be happening if the merger actually went ahead...

As in things would be worse or better Rev?

I don't know much about the benefits of company mergers, particularly of that with state-owned Chinese companies, but I'd prefer Rio Tinto remain Australian owned.

It is possible that the Rio Tinto employees were doing something illegal, I hope that is the case instead of it being something more sinister..

[rev]

Well he is being accused of spying..espionage and all that fun stuff.
Timing is priceless. Chinalco doesn't get to buy out Rio Tinto. Shortly after, China arrests Rio employees, raids offices.
Ah well, we will see if he is guilty or not soon enough.

[Edgar]

I think the title you have on this disucssion and also your response towards the whole situation is a bit immature.

You might want to realise that Australian media are always biased towards anything to do with our people and our country. And the whole generalisation about "what happens when China doesn't (can't even spell it right) get what it wants" goes to prove one case does not mean the entire nation is like that.

China has long been involved in trades and especially in foreign investments, and have also at the same time being turned down many times of course. But have they ever done this when deals got turned down?

I wouldn't be surprised at all if these executives are involved in corruptions, same to all the other big corporations.

[rev]

Nup, I think the title is appropriate.
I think what is immature is you taking an obvious typo and calling it a spelling mistake and trying to make some sort of point...grow up.

If you don't find the timing of this odd, then you are very naive.

So in the few weeks that have passed since the Rio Tinto - Chinalco merger was shot down by Rio Tinto changing their mind, the Chinese authorities have suddenly discovered Rio Tinto executives in China are guilty of espionage and other illegal activities? Yeah..ok, maybe you still believe the world is flat. :wank:
Perhaps those arrested are guilty. But guilty or innocent, that doesn't change the fact the timing is related to the merger.

I think it's clear I'm taking about the Chinese regime, Edgar, not the whole of China.

You might want to realise that Australian media are always biased towards anything to do with our people and our country.

State the obvious next time.

[Howie]

I think what Edgar is saying is how the media reports it in Australia and how the media reports it in China are totally different. I've watched both sides, and there are certain things that both Australian and Chinese media outlets leave out. For instance, Chinese media downplays the merger of Rio... and Australian media downplays market manipulation issues. Somewhere in the middle lies the truth. Either case.. i'd hate to be Stern Hu at the moment.

[JamesXander]

Apparently the only way to do business is china is through brides and deals with government officials.


We are talking about a communist state after all.

[Edgar]

Nup, I think the title is appropriate.
I think what is immature is you taking an obvious typo and calling it a spelling mistake and trying to make some sort of point...grow up.

If you don't find the timing of this odd, then you are very naive.

So in the few weeks that have passed since the Rio Tinto - Chinalco merger was shot down by Rio Tinto changing their mind, the Chinese authorities have suddenly discovered Rio Tinto executives in China are guilty of espionage and other illegal activities? Yeah..ok, maybe you still believe the world is flat. :wank:
Perhaps those arrested are guilty. But guilty or innocent, that doesn't change the fact the timing is related to the merger.

I think it's clear I'm taking about the Chinese regime, Edgar, not the whole of China.

You might want to realise that Australian media are always biased towards anything to do with our people and our country.

State the obvious next time.

You can argue all you want about timing but when you go into another country and try to stir the pot there, you are bound to get some attention. And when you have all the attention that you have asked for, people starts observing you and scrutinising.

And that's probably what has happened in this case. It could well be on-going for a while now, but only got to the attention of the officials after all this merger deals went collapsing.

This extends all the way to local politicians as well, if I have the similar immature thinking as you are, I would be creating more than a dozen threads here in SA with the heading sounding something like this:

"What happens when Liberals doesn't get what they want" .... and go on ranting about what dirty low down tactics the Libs politician had to utilise in order to try and bring down the Labour government?

Don't come and tell me now that you are referring only to the Chinese regime and not the whole of China, if that was the case, how did you justify that in the single line setence of this topic? And I believe this whole issue is with the local state government, and not the whole of China as a whole. Even the president himself has no idea what was going on, so do you even blame this on the regime?

Come on, be serious with what you are to say when it comes to sensitive topic, if you don't know China well enough, sourcing information from local Australian medias doesn't get you anywhere, trust me, Asian medias get more coverage of foreign stories than you would think, and is obviously more than the foreign stories our local media can get us in Australia.

[rev]

You can argue all you want about timing but when you go into another country and try to stir the pot there, you are bound to get some attention. And when you have all the attention that you have asked for, people starts observing you and scrutinising.

And that's probably what has happened in this case. It could well be on-going for a while now, but only got to the attention of the officials after all this merger deals went collapsing.

That still doesn't change the fact that the timing is related to the merger not going through, something China wanted.
If you fail to see the relation between China not getting the merger it desired for one of its companies with the third largest mining company in the world(a strategic asset), and the sudden raiding of Rio office and apprehension of it's employees, then tough luck.

This extends all the way to local politicians as well, if I have the similar immature thinking as you are, I would be creating more than a dozen threads here in SA with the heading sounding something like this:

"What happens when Liberals doesn't get what they want" .... and go on ranting about what dirty low down tactics the Libs politician had to utilise in order to try and bring down the Labour government?

*sigh*...and he calls me immature.
I started one topic...but if you like I can open more topics about China's human rights record.

Don't come and tell me now that you are referring only to the Chinese regime and not the whole of China, if that was the case, how did you justify that in the single line setence of this topic? And I believe this whole issue is with the local state government, and not the whole of China as a whole. Even the president himself has no idea what was going on, so do you even blame this on the regime?

Why are you taking this so personally? You are acting as if I said something about you...
Generally when people say [insert country name] did this, did that, they are talking about the regime/government...
I think it's pretty obvious though, based on the content of the op, that I am talking about the Chinese regime, and not the Chinese people.
If you actually believe that I am talking about the Chinese people, then that's your problem. But after having explained it to you twice now, I'd appreciate if you kept your over sensitive nationalistic misguided patriotic opinions to your self.

Come on, be serious with what you are to say when it comes to sensitive topic, if you don't know China well enough, sourcing information from local Australian medias doesn't get you anywhere, trust me, Asian medias get more coverage of foreign stories than you would think, and is obviously more than the foreign stories our local media can get us in Australia.

...what? So only Asian media covers International events...? that's a rather bold statement. Care to back it up? Because I'd love to see you try.