CANBERRA, (Reuters) – China’s President Hu Jintao  personally endorsed an investigation into global miner Rio  Tinto that led to the detention of four of its China-based  staff, a newspaper said last night, citing Chinese government  sources.

The investigation appears to be part of a realignment of  how China managed its economy in the wake of the global  financial crisis, with spy and security agencies promoted to  top strategy-making bodies, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper  said. The detention a week ago of Anglo-Australian miner Rio  Tinto’s top iron ore salesman in China, Australian Stern Hu,  and three of his Chinese subordinates has cast a shadow over  Australia-China relations and unnerved the iron ore trade.

Rio Tinto is the world’s second largest iron ore miner and  was locked in intense price negotiations with China when Hu and  the three others were detained in Shanghai, accused of stealing  state secrets and bribing Chinese steelmakers for information.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said yesterday  he was urging Chinese authorities to handle the case  expeditiously, and to consider the wider risks for  international business confidence.

The nine-member standing committee of China’s Communist  Party, led by President Hu, had taken more control over  economic decisions at the expense of the State Council, led by  Premier Wen Jiabao, the Herald said, quoting anonymous Chinese  economic advisers.

The inquiry began before Rio Tinto broke off its $19.5  billion investment deal with Chinese metals firm Chinalco and  instead formed an iron ore joint venture with rival BHP  Billiton on June 5, the sources told the paper.

“This is certainly not revenge for the Chinalco deal not  going through,” the Herald quoted one Chinese government source  as saying.

The collapse of the Chinalco deal was immediately followed  by the establishment of a high-level, all-of-government group  that would assess the political and economic risks of large  overseas investment deals, the paper said.

The outbound investment assessment group, which features  vice-minister level representatives of security agencies, is  yet to be given a name and no details have been made public, it  said.