The view from the window of Chinalco's 30th floor explains why this Chinese state-owned enterprise is the world's third largest aluminium producer, an employer of 200,000 and one of China's 10 biggest businesses.

Beijing is stretched out in the haze to the horizon and beyond: mile after mile of car-packed highways circumnavigating a forest of new residential and commercial buildings.

Or to put it another way, China is the world's number one consumer of aluminium because of the way it has been splurging on aluminium-hungry construction and automobiles.

I'm here to interview the new boss of Chinalco, Xiong Weiping, its president.



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He's been in the job since 17 February and has been thrown in at the deep end - because he is having to steer to a successful conclusion Chinalco's controversial investment of $19.5bn (£13.6bn) in Rio Tinto, the Anglo-Australian mining giant.

Let's dispense with the news first. Mr Xiong - who is 53 but looks 33 - gives a strong hint that Rio will shortly make a gesture to allay the concerns of some Rio shareholders that they should have been allowed to invest in their company on the same terms as Chinalco.

He says that he's sure that Rio's board will shortly find "a suitable solution". This can only mean, I think, that Rio will offer £1bn or more of its subordinated convertible bonds to existing investors.

Given that Chinalco is paying a very significant premium over the market value of Rio's assets, it will be fascinating to see whether Rio's investors put their money where their mouth has been, when given the right to buy these securities.



Mr Xiong also acknowledged that there is a potential conflict of interest between Chinalco's desire to buy minerals as cheaply as possible and the natural preference of Rio's other owners for the price of its stuff to be as high as possible - but he says that "governance" arrangements have been put in place to ensure that Rio doesn't feel constrained in the pursuit of profits.



So why is Chinalco making what is China's biggest ever investment in an overseas company?



In fact, including earlier purchases of Rio stock, Chinalco will end up putting just under $35bn into Rio - very big potatoes.



For Mr Xiong, it was all about making Chinalco "world class" and a global company. Quite apart from the putative benefits for Chinalco of taking stategic stakes in some of Rio's mines, Mr Xiong wants his team to learn from Rio about managing a multinational business.



Now here's a funny thing.



Although Chinalco is not directly managed by the state, what Mr Xiong said was consistent with the address made yesterday to the Eleventh National People's Congress by Wen Jiabao, China's premier (see my post "Super China").



Wen Jiabao said:



"We will continue to implement the 'go global' strategy, support all kinds of competent Chinese enterprises in investing overseas and undertaking international mergers and acquisitions, and encourage large enterprises to play a leading role in implementing the 'go global' strategy".



In that context, the sheer number of recent investments by Chinese interests in non-domestic commodities and energy businesses has been striking - including a massive $15bn loan-for-oil deal with Rosneft, the cash-strapped Russian oil company, and a $10bn injection into Petrobras, the Brazilian state-owned oil company.



Mr Xiong didn't answer directly when I asked whether the rest of the world should fear this Chinese buying spree, this opportunity for China to buy some great companies on the cheap thanks to its relative financial strength and the collapse of stock markets and commodity prices.



What he did say was that Chinalco had no plans to buy all of Rio. Apart from anything else, Chinalco has hardly been immune to the global economic slump: the price of aluminium has fallen by 60%, which has dragged down Chinalco's profits - so Mr Xiong will have his hands full turning his business around.



Even so, one of the big messages I've taken away from my short Chinese tour is that China is still moving towards the top of the premier league of economies.



Yes, it is suffering quite badly from the impact of the global recession.



But its pain is less than Japan's, or the UK's, or Germany's or that of the US.



And, as deflation takes hold across the world, as China's currency strengthens, as commodity prices decline, and as stock markets sag, China's spending power has been significantly increased.



Also, many businesses in developed countries - like Rio Tinto - feel the need to reduce excessive debts that were incurred during the boom years. And if such companies are looking for a partner with the cash to pay off those borrowings, deep-pocketed Chinese companies are among the few that are available.



Unless China loses its nerve, in a year or two's time it'll probably own significantly more of the world's more important assets than it does today.