China turns down the heat on Rio Tinto

"China has taken a step back," said Breakingviews.com's Una Galani. When it detained four of Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto's executives in early July, they seemed likely to be charged with stealing state secrets, which is punishable by death.

But this week they were formally charged with bribery and stealing commercial secrets. And an article on a state-run Chinese website accusing Rio of overcharging it for iron ore by $102bn over six years has now been removed.

What the commentators said

"It's no coincidence" that this episode has hit the headlines at a time when "negotiations between suppliers and China's steelmakers are at an impasse", said Economist.com. "China's government is putting pressure on foreign suppliers and showing ongoing unhappiness with the way iron ore prices are set."

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But "accusing Rio Tinto employees of costing China $102bn over six years in excessive iron ore charges was so obviously absurd as to be embarrassing for the Chinese", says Stephen Bartholomeusz in Business Spectator.

Now they "appear to have put a lid on some of the more hysterical commentary, perhaps aware that whatever its appeal inside China, it was becoming quite damaging to the country's image in the West". It certainly was, said The Wall Street Journal. This kind of "capricious interference" of the state in private business smacks of Putin's Russia.

RIO £23.04; 12m change -40%