Guess what? Tomorrow's must-see conference, the 2009 China Update, is hosted by "The Rio Tinto - ANU China Partnership".No joke. Check out the sponsorship notice at the top of the conference website.
John Garnaut's typically brilliant report from China in today's Herald and Age begins like this:
"WHEN Rio Tinto holds press events in China, its public relations firm sometimes hands out red envelopes of cash to Chinese journalists who are kind enough to turn up.
Well, doesn't every company in China do it?
No, the best multinational companies do not. And the best Chinese journalists don't accept those "expense" payments, either..."
Read the full thing
Let's see... Australia's AWB stooped to bribery and suffered the consequences, it is alleged that a subsidiary of our Reserve Bank also stopped to bribery and it is awaiting the consequences. Hasn't this taught firms such as Rio anything?
2 comments:
John Garnaut is always a great read. He's the first Australian journalist to even hint that some of the blame might lie with Rio Tinto.
"What can they do, they need the iron ore"
This really sums up the Australian attitude to the iron ore negotiations. The Chinese were absolutely screwed last time around when the Aussie miners almost doubled the contract price, and now they're trying to squeeze every last cent out of the Chinese again.
Its dumb and its greedy.
China is only source of demand for our resources at the moment. Its not like there's anyone else we can sell to if we totally p*ss off the Chinese. Surely it would have been prudent to give the Chinese their 40% cut in return for some long term good will? If BHP and Rio could mine iron ore profitably in 2007, then they're profitable after a 40% cut from 2008 prices.
The Chinese govt is trying to stimulate its economy with a big infrastructure spend, and keep a lid on commodity prices at the same time. The last thing the Chinese want to do is give their stimulus money to Rio and BHP in the form of higher commodity prices.
Its really not helping that the Australian media cheers loudly at every rumour that the Chinese might have "capitulated" on the iron ore negotiations. Can you imagine how this plays with the Chinese Communist Party?
Rio bribed all 16 Chinese steel mills according to the China Daily.
Why are Australians in Asian prisons always innocent? Maybe, just maybe, Rio Tinto was up to no good?
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