BEIJING -- Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto has asked its foreign staff to leave China or not return to the country after four of its employees were detained earlier this month and accused of stealing state secrets, a person familiar with the situation said. The espionage case -- which the authorities allege involved the payment of bribes for information related to iron-ore pricing negotiations between Chinese steelmakers and miners -- has raised fears that others connected to the talks could also face legal jeopardy. Rio Tinto says it isn't aware of any misconduct by its employees. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124774933236051281.html China convicting foreigners of "stealing state screts". Ha, ha, ha ! Good joke ! Somebody remembering Chinese industrial espionage cases in G8 countries??
i bet any g8 would pay a fortune to figure out how chinese hit these satelites without guiding mechanism, at least not using technology from Tesla's times.
In China, the "stealing states secrets" charge is given to those whom the government wants to deal with but can't find a legally acceptable ground to act on. They were usually handed out to human rights activists and Chinese correspondents of foreign newspapers (several guys from NYT got hit). This is the first time it's given to a foreign employee of a foreign company however, meaning that China is targeting specifically Rio for something, possibly as a revenge for breaking the deal with Chinalco.