Trial date set for Stern Hu in China

Australia said it was pleased that the case of Hu was moving to trial, eight months after he and three other employees of the Anglo-Australian miner were arrested in Shanghai during fraught iron ore contract negotiations.

 "Mr Hu and the other defendants will be tried by the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, commencing on Monday 22 March," a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman said.

"Mr Hu will stand trial on charges of receiving bribes and infringing commercial secrets," she said, citing Canberra's Consulate-General in Shanghai.

Australia said consular officials would attend the sessions of the trial relating to the receiving of bribes and that Canberra had asked that China reconsider a ban on their attending the closed proceedings.

"At the request of one of the parties and in accordance with Chinese law and procedure, the Court has decided that the sessions dealing with the infringement of commercial secrets should be closed," the spokeswoman said.

"As a consequence, court authorities have advised that Australian consular officials are not able to attend that part of the proceedings. Australian officials have asked for this to be reconsidered."

Zhai Jian, a lawyer for defendant Ge Minqiang, told AFP all four would go on trial at 8:30 am on Monday (0030 GMT). He also confirmed the trial would be held at Shanghai No 1 Intermediate Court. Calls to the court rang unanswered.

The arrest of Hu and three Chinese colleagues last July raised concerns about the potential pitfalls for foreign companies doing business in China, and caused a temporary chill in Sino-Australian relations.

The arrest of the four Rio Tinto employees came during fractious iron ore contract talks which later collapsed and just weeks after Rio Tinto snubbed a near 20-billion dollar cash injection from a state-run Chinese company.

Rio Tinto, the world's third biggest miner, has previously said it was not aware of any wrongdoing by its employees.

Beijing has insisted the case will be handled by the book and that it would "fully guarantee" the rights of the employees.

The four are accused of using their "positions to obtain benefits for others and on many occasions solicited or accepted bribes," China's state Xinhua news agency has said.

Xinhua said they had also "on many occasions obtained the trade secrets of Chinese steel companies, leading to serious consequences for the relevant steel companies".