Rio trial resumes in China

The diplomatically sensitive trial of an Australian executive with mining giant Rio Tinto resumed in China Tuesday after his courtroom admission that he had taken bribes.

Stern Hu and three Chinese employees first appeared in the dock on Monday in a case that has soured ties between Beijing and Canberra, and stoked concerns about doing business in China and the rule of law there.

Hu and the other men -- Liu Caikui, Wang Yong, and Ge Minqiang -- are being tried on bribe-taking and trade secrets charges, eight months after their arrest and detention in Shanghai.

Court spokeswoman Wang Haiwen told AFP the proceedings had opened, but declined further comment.

Hu, who heads the Anglo-Australian company's Shanghai office, pleaded guilty on Monday to taking bribes, said Liu's attorney, Tao Wuping. The Australian however contested the amount of the bribes.

Australia's government also said Hu "made some admissions," but declined further comment until the proceedings end on Wednesday.

The Shanghai court was expected to wrap up the bribery hearings on Tuesday morning before beginning closed sessions on the charges of "infringing trade secrets".

The plans for the closed-door hearings have added to questions over whether the men can get a fair trial.

Hu was charged with accepting a total of around six million yuan (880,000 dollars) in bribes, according to Tao and the Australian government.

Tao said both Hu and Liu pleaded guilty. He said the others also were accused in court of accepting large bribes, but it was not clear how the other men had pleaded.

Tao told AFP his client Liu faced a charge of accepting three million yuan in bribes, while Wang and Ge were charged with accepting bribes of 70 million yuan and six million yuan, respectively.

Access to the trial at the Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court has been restricted. Only a handful of reporters from state-run domestic media were seen being allowed into the courthouse.

Australian consular officials were attending the hearings on the bribe-taking charges, and Canberra has asked China to reconsider the closure of the other hearings.

The case is being widely viewed as a test of whether China is willing to honour commitments to foreign investors.

The four were arrested in July during contentious iron ore contract negotiations which later collapsed, and after Rio snubbed a near 20-billion-dollar cash injection from its largest shareholder, the state-run Chinese miner Chinalco.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Monday that the world will be watching the trial "very closely".

In Australia, the head of Rio Tinto's iron ore division, Sam Walsh, told Dow Jones Newswires that the company would "respect the outcome" of the trial, but declined further comment.

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