The arrest of Australian national Stern Hu, representing mining giant Rio Tinto in Shanghai - and several of his Chinese associates on suspicion of espionage and obtaining " state secrets " illustrates the contradictions that plague the world's biggest country.
China is a Communist regime trying to equate the dogma of Communism - strict control - intolerance of any form of protest - an oppressive police force - with the financial success of embracing a capitalist economy and trade with the non-Communist world.
On the one hand China is notorious for using it's diaspora of citizens to attract commercial and military intelligence world wide - and on the other hand to be hugely sensitive to foreigners obtaining even the most mundane data freely available within the country.
Welcome to the free world of commerce - where information is power and the wheeling and dealing of negotiating price involves clandestine work obtaining secrets that enhance the holder's chances of success.
This arrest will probably be an embarrassment to the Chinese leadership, and most probably it is part of a knee jerk reaction to the failed bid by Chinalco to obtain a slice of the ownership of Australian Rio Tinto.
There are expectations that the arrest will be short lived. If it is not, then Australia has a trump card that it can most certainly play.
This recession will be short lived and China will need to be a big importer of thermal coal and iron ore to sustain it's industries - and it will be just one of several emerging economies competing for materials.
Australia controls 16% of the world coal supply - and a whopping 32% of iron ore.
A time - perhaps - to remind China that if it tries to impose Communist era conditions on the free market, then Australia might look less favourably on China as an export destination for these minerals.
Communist or capitalist - China's leaders have shown they are pragmatic - and most likely this arrest hic-cup stems from lower level decision makers yet to fully grasp the realities of world trade !
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