Rio Tinto-China Spy Plot Thickens

The anxiety last year was heightened even more after a deal collapsed between Rio Tinto and Chinalco, the huge state-owned Chinese aluminum company. Chinalco would have bailed out the then-debt-ridden Rio with a much-needed equity infusion. But partly because of homegrown political angst over foreign ownership, Rio spiked the arrangement and instead agreed to form a joint venture with its native rival BHP Billiton.

Under this deal, the two miners would combine their iron-ore properties in Western Australia, saving on operational costs. But China, of course, saw the joint venture as a way for Rio and BHP to control iron ore pricing, and has led a global push to question the tie-up on antitrust grounds.

Several weeks after Rio turned down Chinalco, the company's employees were detained in China. They've been under arrest ever since.

-- Written by Scott Eden in New York

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