China says Rio Tinto case to be handled fairly

BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese official Tuesday said the industrial espionage case related to Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto would be handled fairly according to the law.

Chinese police have concluded investigations into four employees of Rio Tinto Ltd., who were suspected of infringing trade secrets and bribery.

The four were handed over to the Shanghai procuratorate for prosecution, Shanghai public security authorities said Monday.

"We have notified Australia of the situation in this case," said Jiang Yu, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.

She said China always dealt with the case according to Chinese law and diplomatic agreements between China and Australia.

The four suspects in the Rio Tinto case were head of Rio Tinto's Shanghai office, Australian citizen Stern Hu, and three local employees: Liu Caikui, Ge Minqiang and Wang Yong. They were arrested in August last year on charges of obtaining commercial secrets of China's steel and iron industry through improper means and bribery.