**China has extended its investigations into alleged spying and bribery by Rio Tinto employees to executives of five Chinese steelmakers.**Baosteel Group, Anshan Iron & Steel Group, Laigang Group and Jigang Group are being probed, the China Daily said.
An executive at another major producer, Shougang Group, was detained last week, news reports said.
Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan has said the case of detained Australian Stern Hu should be handled quickly.
Baosteel, Shougang and Angang are among the 16 delegation members at the talks for fixing 2009 iron ore prices, the China Daily reported.
It said the annual talks, which were supposed to conclude by 30 June, are continuing despite the arrests and investigations.
State secrets
Mr Hu and three other men working for the Anglo-Australian mining firm Rio Tinto were detained last week, accused of stealing state secrets.
Rio Tinto was acting as lead negotiator for global iron ore producers in talks with Chinese mills on the price for annual supply contracts.
The Rio employees are accused of bribing Chinese steel company personnel to obtain summaries of the negotiators’ meetings, according to Chinese news reports.
In Canberra, Australia, the Chinese ambassador was again called in to the foreign ministry on Tuesday, the third summons in a week.
Australia’s opposition is pressing for more aggressive action on Mr Hu’s arrest, but Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said “yelling and screaming” would not help.