Australian trade minister Simon Crean told reporters that the arrest and detention of Australian national Stern Hu isn’t hurting the Australian-China trade relationship, Market Watch reported. He did caution, however, that it would affect the way business is conducted in China. "Unless it’s resolved expeditiously and satisfactorily, it could have implications in terms of the way in which businesses see the way they do business with China," he explained. Crean called the situation an "unfortunate distraction" from an otherwise strong relationship. Li Yizhong, China’s minister of industry and information technology emphasized on Thursday Beijing’s position that the Rio Tinto employees had committed crimes and would be held accountable. Even in the midst of diplomatic tensions, China’s need for iron ore from Australia has translated into rising trade volumes in recent months.
Categories