Rio Tinto returned fire on BHP Billiton and its critics today, dismissing claims that it was slow to recognise the China boom and suggestions that its argument over relative value to its suitor was losing traction.

The Anglo-Australian miner has rejected its rival's offer, pitched at 3.4 BHP shares for each Rio share, even though its shares have consistently traded at about 3.3-to-one.

Paul Skinner, the chairman of Rio Tinto, said today that tracking the share ratio on a daily basis did not give a full picture.

"I personally don't think that daily inspection of that ratio serves necessarily a great purpose," he said after the company's annual meeting in Brisbane.

He went on to say that focusing on the March quarter production reports of the two companies was taking a short-term view in a long-term business, and that Rio Tinto was maintaining its strong growth momentum.

Mr Skinner also hit back at comments this week by Marius Kloppers, the chief executive of BHP, that Rio Tinto had "missed the boat" on China's boom and on the surging demand for energy.

He said that the comments were "difficult to understand", that Rio Tinto was a significant energy producer through its coal and uranium businesses and that it was an early mover on China.

"We've been trading into China actually for a very, very long time — more than a hundred years — and we got serious about 40 years ago," Mr Skinner said.

"If you walk back through the records you will find that Rio Tinto was one of the first of the resource companies to recognise what a driving force China was going to be in global markets."

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