Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Wednesday urged China to hold trials in public, after four Rio Tinto executives were handed lengthy jail terms in proceedings held largely behind closed doors.
Rudd said there was always going to be "bumps in the road in our relationship with China", after Beijing expressed concerns about Australia's criticisms of the trial.
"I would say to our friends in Beijing, however, that the responsible course of action is to ensure that your judiciary process is transparent, that when people are brought before your courts, that those trials are held publicly," Rudd told reporters.
"I believe that's the responsible course of action for the future, and I would say that with great respect to our friends in Beijing."
Australian businessman Stern Hu was sentenced to 10 years in jail after being convicted of accepting bribes and stealing trade secrets following a three-day trial in Shanghai.
Three Chinese colleagues were sentenced to between seven and 14 years.
The part of the trial concerned with trade secrets was held in a closed court to which Australian consular officials were also excluded, something Australian officials have criticised since the verdicts were given on Monday.
Rudd, a Mandarin speaker who was previously posted to Beijing as a diplomat, had warned China that the world would be watching the case, and he repeated his message on Wednesday.
"China is an emerging power, but I think the world is also watching the way in which China evolves its judicial system, including the importance of ensuring that all trials, particularly those of a criminal nature, are held in a public and transparent manner," he said.
In his first comments following the verdicts, Rudd said Tuesday that China's handling of the corruption trial, which centred on fraught iron ore negotiations which later collapsed, had left "serious unanswered questions".
That prompted a call from Australia's major trading partner to stop its criticism of the Chinese legal system, which Canberra has acknowledged is very different to Australia's.
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