Australia Speaks Out On China-Rio Case

Posted by Gabriella Stern on March 30, 2010
Australia, China, Mining Industry, Natural Resources

Day 2 of Australian government officials speaking frankly, and sharply, about the shameful sham Shanghai trial of Australian citizen Stern Hu and three Rio Tinto colleagues who are Chinese citizens. Monday, when the sentences came down against the Rio Tinto Four, Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith rightly described them as “harsh.”  Today came Prime Minister Kevin Rudd saying China failed to “demonstrate to the world at large transparency that would be consistent with its emerging global role.” As I’ve said again and again, we know nothing – at most next to nothing – about the case. We don’t know if the four Rio employees are guilty as charged. All we know is they were denied due process at every stage of the case, from their detentions last July to the lengthy prison sentences handed down this week. For its part, Rio Tinto is so eager to remain in China’s good graces – the mining company makes a lot of money there – that it has fired the four defendants while declining to speak out on their behalf. At least Australia’s government is saying what needs to be said.

Tags: , , , , , ,

1 Comment to Australia Speaks Out On China-Rio Case

Tweets that mention Randomly Noted » Blog Archive » Australia Speaks Out On China-Rio Case -- Topsy.com
March 30, 2010

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Randomly Noted. Randomly Noted said: New Blog Post: Australia Speaks Out On China-Rio Case http://newswires-americas.com/randomnotes/?p=6994 [...]

Rss Feed Tweeter button Facebook button Technorati button Reddit button Myspace button Linkedin button Webonews button Delicious button Digg button Flickr button Stumbleupon button Newsvine button Youtube button