Rio Tinto to build China ties

Sydney - Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto said on Sunday it was keen to build its relationship with China, despite four Shanghai-based employees being charged with bribery and industrial espionage.

The world's third largest mining company said its largest shareholder was a Chinese company, Chinalco, and it wanted to build bridges with the Asian powerhouse, a key consumer of raw materials.

"We would like to build relationships with China and I think that that can take place over a number of different areas," Rio's chief financial officer Guy Elliott told Sky News.

China's official Xinhua news agency last week said that Rio Tinto executive and Australian passport-holder Stern Hu would face trial in Shanghai along with three Chinese colleagues.

The four, detained last July during fractious iron ore contract talks, are accused of using their "positions to obtain benefits for others and on many occasions solicited or accepted bribes," Xinhua said late on Wednesday.

Rio Tinto has previously has said it is not aware of any wrongdoing by its employees.

The case briefly snarled diplomatic ties between China and Australia, which have become major trading partners as the Asian giant seeks commodities and energy to feed its rapid industrialisation.

The Rio Tinto employees were arrested just weeks after Rio walked away from a massive cash injection from state-run Chinalco, which would have given China an important presence in Australia's vast resources sector.

- AFP