Australian Officials to Meet Rio’s Hu, Rudd Says (Update3)
By Gemma Daley
July 10 (Bloomberg) -- Australian consular officials will today meet Stern Hu, the head of Rio Tinto Group’s iron ore operations in China who was arrested this week for stealing state secrets, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said.
Officials will meet Hu for the first time since his July 5 arrest, Rudd said. Trade Minister Simon Crean, who flew to China to discuss auto exports, will also meet with Chinese officials about Hu, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith “called in” China’s acting ambassador in Australia, Rudd said, adding that the government’s contact with Rio is “intimate.”
“Consular access has been granted for the individual and then we’ll proceed accordingly,” Rudd told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio in Italy. “It is time for working calmly and methodically through this complex consular case.”
China was Australia’s second-biggest trading partner in 2008 next to Japan. China bought A$37 billion ($29 billion) worth of goods that year from the world’s biggest coal and wool producer and is Australia’s biggest source of foreign students and investment, government figures show.
“I am confident we can get through this,” Rudd said. “This is a relationship which is very broad, but we take the interests of any single Australian very seriously.”
Hu was detained in Shanghai on July 5 along with three other Rio employees, London-based Rio said this week. Chinese authorities have “established the evidence before they took action against anyone,” the foreign ministry’s spokesman, Qin Gang, said yesterday at a regular press briefing in Beijing.
Criminal Charges
Hu “is suspected of stealing Chinese state secrets for foreign countries and was detained on criminal charges,” Qin said. The act “caused huge loss to China’s economic interest and security,” Qin said, without elaborating.
Rio, the world’s second-biggest iron-ore exporter, last month scrapped a $19.5 billion investment by Aluminum Corp. of China and is deadlocked in iron ore price talks with steelmakers. The detention of Rio’s staff may be part of a broader investigation into alleged kickbacks among traders and mills, the Australian Financial Review said yesterday.
“We are in intimate contact with Rio Tinto,” Rudd told Melbourne radio 3AW, adding that Australia would make political representations on Hu’s arrest once the facts are established in the “difficult” case. “Our objective is to support Mr. Hu.”
Price Talks
Hu may be charged with offences under Chinese criminal law, according to a Department of Foreign Affairs e-mailed statement. The government was “surprised by the detention and the reason for the detention by Chinese authorities,” the statement said.
Chinese mills and iron-ore producers are continuing the longest-running negotiations in the 40-year history of setting annual prices for the steelmaking material. China, the largest buyer, rejected Rio’s push for a 33 percent price cut, which was agreed to by rivals in South Korea and Japan, and is seeking a steeper discount to counter losses as demand drops.
“We will proceed cautiously on the basis of the advice as it unfolds,” Rudd told ABC. “We’ll make representations at all levels that are necessary.”
Last Updated: July 9, 2009 22:01 EDT
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acting ambassador
acting 一般译作代理，但用于外交界大使职务时，没有代理一级，该职位通常行使临时代办职能，故译作大使代办
call in: to summon to one's aid or for consultation <call in a mediator>
解释为召见。力拓间谍案后，陆克文称澳外交部长史蒂文·史密斯召见了中国驻澳大使代办官员
get through: to be successful in a test or competition, or to make sure that someone or something is successful
was detained on criminal charges
（力拓中国）胡士泰被刑拘
scrapped a $19.5 billion investment
scrap 在此表示废弃，指力拓毁约之前与中铝进行的投资计划
Rio’s push for a 33 percent price cut
push相当于attempt或determination，指力拓矿石首发价未达到中钢协的要求，只有33%的降幅。