An Australian employee of Rio Tinto, the Anglo-Australian mining group, has been detained by Chinese officials on suspicion of espionage and stealing state secrets, a move that could stoke tension between the two countries.
The detention of the employee comes amid fraught talks over iron ore pricing and follows Rio's recent decision to abandon a plan to sell a $19.5bn stake to Chinalco, the Chinese state-owned mining company.
Stephen Smith, Australia's foreign minister, said yesterday that Stern Hu, Rio's head of marketing and sales in China and an Australian citizen, had been detained as a suspected spy. Mr Hu and three Chinese Rio employees have been held since Sunday.
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