here is the whole spy story, page-2

If Rio only bribe some ppl, it is only commercial criminal case. In fact, Rio not only want to know the info about Chinese steel company such like turnover, stock, gross margin, buying price etc, but also it tried to know the strategy that Chinese Steel Association using to negotiate. Ie, Hu got those strategy from sb inside of negotiation, which really pissed off chinese govt.(chinese steel association is a govt body). think this way, if Rudd govt try to negotiate sth with chinese govt, but chinese govt already knows what Rudd govt wants and how it wants from sb that inside of Rudd govt, what you think of Rudd govt will do?Its a shame not money matter.
Its a long story. In china there are more than 2000 steel companies that needs millions of tons of iron ore each year. However, there are only a few big players having rights to import iron ore and negotiate long term contract price with big 3. (Rio, Bhp, Vale). So ore stock price is far more expensive than long term contract ore price. therefore, sb in the big companies sells their contract ore to those small steel companies to make a profit. So if sb has good relation with Hu, he will get more contract from him, so he can make more money. On the other hand, hu will ask for sth that he needs to help Rio making more profit. The way that hu used is over the bottom line. Just a little bad luck for him and Rio. But he is the only employee of rio, chinese govt didnt blame that Rio steal secret but hu. Why? Because chinese govt dont want hurt relationship with Rio!