Australian minister urges China to speed up Rio case

Australia's climate change minister said on Wednesday she had urged China's Vice Premier Li Keqiang to expedite the case of four employees of mining giant Rio Tinto, currently held on suspicion of corporate espionage.

Penny Wong said she had raised the issue with Li, who is widely tipped as China's next Premier, during a meeting that had primarily focused on tackling global warming.

The detainees include Australian citizen Stern Hu in a case has strained ties between Australia and its second-largest trade partner.

"I did raise with the Vice Premier the issue of Australian citizens who are currently in the situation in question," Wong told journalists when asked if the Rio case was on the agenda at her meeting with Li.

"I did urge the Chinese to treat the case expeditiously in accordance with Chinese law, and we think it is in the interests of both countries for that to occur."

The four were detained on suspicion of stealing state secrets, but their formal arrest in August included only the less serious charge of stealing commercial secrets.

A defence lawyer for one of the men said earlier this week that a probe into the charges would be extended by a month.

While Canberra has been pressing Beijing over the Rio case, it has also been keen to try and isolate it from wider ties at a time when these have been increasingly tense.

"More broadly obviously, the bilateral relationship remains an important, significant and ongoing relationship," Wong added. "We take very much a long-term view when it comes to Australia's relationship with China."

Two-way trade last year was worth $53 billion, but relations have been strained by incidents including the Rio arrests, the failure of Chinese state-owned metals firm Chinalco's $19.5 billion bid to raise its stake in Rio and the Australian government's granting of a visa to an exiled Uighur activist.

BEIJING, Oct 14 (Reuters)