A Chinese firm this week offered to buy control of struggling Australian zinc miner Perilya, and the Chinese are also pursuing another zinc miner, Oz Minerals, which is scrambling to refinance its debt. And mining giant Rio Tinto, saddled with around $30 billion in debt, is trying to find buyers for some of its assets.Meanwhile, for the first time in 600 years, the Chinese Navy will engage in long-range naval combat missions, patrolling for pirates off the Somali coast. The Americans, in response, politely call for the Chinese to resume the military communications the two countries enjoyed until the Chinese cancelled them in October as retaliation for the U.S. selling (more) arms to Taiwan.
China steams ahead
While everyone in the western world is either distraught or at least worried about the current state of the world's economy, it appears that China is taking advantage of the situation, to the degree it can, to pursue some of its longer-term goals.
On the economic front, China is acting as a "white knight" to rescue smaller mining companies, hammered by the collapse of commodity prices and the frozen credit markets.
