Speaking to reporters yesterday in Sydney, Chinalco boss Xiao Yaqing explained that his purchase of US$13 billion worth of shares in international mining giant Rio Tinto was driven solely by financial considerations.
Chinalco bought the stake purely in the hope of making a decent return on the investment, he insisted. Few believed him. Even though US aluminium maker Alcoa chipped in US$1.2 billion to lend the deal an odour of respectability, most observers assumed a murkier strategic or political motive.
That is not surprising. The news that China's biggest state-owned aluminium company had acquired a sizeable slice of Rio Tinto immediately blew rival miner BHP Billiton's takeover bid for Rio wide open. Speculative explanations for Chinalco's move were soon flying thick and fast.
The most sensational possibility - that Chinalco is planning a rival bid of its own for BHP, backed by Beijing - lacks credibility.
There can be little doubt the mainland authorities would dearly like to scupper a BHP-Rio merger. The combined company would control about one-third of the world's international iron ore trade and a quarter of its supply of bauxite, the basic raw material for aluminium production, lending it enormous pricing power in negotiations with Chinese importers.
Yet, despite press reports of a US$120 billion war chest of official funds to back a Chinalco-led bid, Beijing is unlikely to support a takeover attempt.