**Australia’s foreign minister has said he saw “no basis” to suggestions that the arrest of a mining executive in China was payback for a cancelled deal.**Stephen Smith’s comments came as Chinese officials confirmed that Rio Tinto’s Stern Hu and three others had been arrested on spying charges.
Australian media has speculated the arrests were sparked by Rio cancelling a $19.5bn (£12bn) Chinese investment.
Mr Smith said Australian officials were now trying to see Mr Hu.
The cancelled deal in question was Rio’s February announcement that it was to accept a further $19.5bn of investment from China’s state-run aluminium group Chinalco.
The deal would have been the largest-ever Chinese investment in a foreign company, but Rio changed its mind last month, deciding to cancel the agreement and instead launching a tie-up with fellow Anglo-Australian miner BHP Billiton.
Chinalco said at the time that it was “very disappointed”.
Seeking consular access
Mr Hu, an Australian national, and Rio’s main iron ore salesman in China, and the three other Rio employees, were arrested on Sunday charges of stealing state secrets.
“The case is being investigated according to law,” said China’s official Xinhua news agency.
Mr Smith said Australian officials wanted consular access to Mr Hu “to satisfy ourselves as to his welfare, to satisfy ourselves as to his well-being and to get some indication from him as to how we can be of assistance”.
He added that the spying accusations were “very surprising”.