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[quote=BOBERT,370606] Mr Smith indicated the question of legal representation would be one of the main issues during the consular visit. The Age contacted Stern Hu by phone two weeks before he was detained, and he said: "I'm sorry, I can't really talk now, we are worried our phones are being bugged." The Age previously had learnt from other sources that detailed contract information from Rio Tinto iron ore auctions was being immediately intercepted by the China Iron and Steel Association. In June, veteran CISA director Zou Jian warned steel companies would be "punished" if they did not toe the line, without detailing specifics. The wording of the Chinese statement suggests Beijing has already concluded that Mr Hu and his three staff are guilty, even before they have been officially charged. "Stern Hu and three other staff, including Liu Caikui, gathered and stole state secrets from China via illegal means, including bribing internal staff of Chinese steel companies," the statement said. It said they had "caused huge loss to China's national economic security and interests", and "have already broken Chinese law and have violated international business ethics". On May 14 the CISA announced it was investigating steel mills and traders that were ignoring its directives and buying record iron ore shipments from Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. The volumes were so large as to help the Australian economy withstand the global financial crisis, which had wreaked havoc on the trade accounts of every other significant economy. But CISA now appears to be a side-player in this co-ordinated push to marshall China's buying power against the Australian miners. The Age believes CISA boss Shan Shanghua told Chinese journalists on Monday that the association had finally agreed to accept the 33 per cent cut in the benchmark iron ore contract price previously agreed by Japanese and other steel industries. He said he would announce the deal within two days, apparently without knowledge that the four Rio Tinto staff had already been detained. Chinese sources say iron ore contract negotiations remain "unresolved". Prime Minister Kevin Rudd continued to stress the need for a careful approach to this "difficult case", saying the Government would "make other representations" to the Chinese Government as appropriate. [/quote]
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