Rio Tinto spied on China for six years: Report

BEIJING: China's state secrets watchdog has accused Australian mining giant Rio Tinto of committing industrial espionage against China for six years and causing the country significant economic losses.

Chinese authorities detained Australian citizen Stern Hu and three other Shanghai-based Rio employees in early July and accused them of bribery and stealing state secrets during iron ore contract negotiations.

Rio said in July the accusations are "wholly without foundation."

"The large amount of data and intelligence on China's steel sector found on Rio Tinto's computers and the huge damage to the economic interests and security of the country are evident," said a report published over the weekend on the baomi.org website run by the State Secrets Bureau.

The bureau is responsible for protecting the state secrets of China's government and Communist Party organisations.

The Baomi report said "this six-year espionage case involved corruption, information gathering and spying."

According to Chinese media reports, Rio bribed officials at 16 major Chinese steelmakers during iron ore talks.

The watchdog said Rio's spying had cost China's steel sector 700 billion yuan (102 billion dollars), without giving further details.