New arrest in Rio Tinto Chinese ‘spying’ affair

China ratcheted up the tensions with Rio Tinto today, as it accused four of the London mining giant's executives of bribing a local steel executive for secret information.

Four Rio executives were arrested in China on Sunday accused of stealing state secrets. They included its head of iron ore negotiations, Stern Hu, a senior Rio executive and Australian national.

Today, it emerged that Chinese authorities have also arrested a local steel executive, Tan Yixin, on suspicion of "revealing China's negotiating strategy".

Reports suggest China thinks he leaked details of the country's "bottom line" position on crucial talks about how much the world's fastest-growing economy would pay Western producers for iron ore in the next six-12 months.

Rio Tinto said it was "surprised" by the new allegations and was not aware of any evidence that would support them.

State-run Chinese media said of the bribes: "This seriously damaged China's economic security and interests. The activities of Stern Hu and the others violated Chinese law as well as international business morality."

The arrests came shortly after Rio infuriated China by going back on a partnership with state-controlled aluminium giant Chinalco after a revolt by Rio shareholders.

Chinalco, still Rio's biggest shareholder, said the arrests were unrelated to that affair.

They are causing a growing diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Canberra.