China's foreign ministry says Rio Tinto harmed security

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's foreign ministry spokesman Thursday said that Shanghai-based executives working for Australian miner Rio Tinto had harmed China's economic interests.

The four employees of Rio's iron ore division, one of whom is an Australian citizen, were detained over the weekend.

The "prying and stealing" of state secrets by Rio Tinto employees "harms China's economic interest and security," Qin Gang told a regular news briefing.

The employees had been criminally detained, Qin said, although the Xinhua news agency had earlier said they had been arrested. Under Chinese law, people can be detained for some time before being formally arrested and charged.

"It's an individual judicial case and should not be politicized," Qin said. Sources told Reuters that computers, likely containing sensitive commercial information relating to iron ore contracts, have also been removed from Rio's Shanghai offices.

Rio Tinto had no comment on the matter of the computers.

(Reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim, writing by Lucy Hornby; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)