I hope that one of the messages that goes out is if someone is going to steal proprietary information and steal that information for the benefit of another country, they are going to be charged in this country and face very serious punishment for doing so.' These might have been the words of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' spokesman, justifying the detention of four Rio Tinto employees under investigation for stealing state secrets and commercial bribery.
Yet they were uttered last week by an American prosecutor, Ivy Wang, following the federal conviction of Dongfan 'Greg' Chung, a former Chinese national, for economic espionage relating to the US space programme.
Every nation has the right to defend itself against theft of state secrets and commercial bribery. No one should dispute China's right to do so. Then why should Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, himself a China specialist, take the extraordinary step of publicly warning the Chinese government that the world is watching how it handles the case of Rio Tinto's Stern Hu, a Chinese-born Australian, and his three Chinese co-workers?
To paraphrase former US president Bill Clinton: 'It's the procedure, stupid.'
Chung had a fair opportunity to defend himself. He was free on bail for the entire 17 months between arrest and conviction. He had unmonitored, unrestricted access to lawyers of his choice, who were able to conduct their own investigation while the police completed theirs.
Chung had the right to choose whether he would be tried by a jury or, as he preferred, by a judge whose life tenure guaranteed his independence. He also had the right to a public trial, open to the media and others who could evaluate the fairness of the proceedings.