China plays the West like a fiddle China's dependence on commodities has positioned her to a dual role as a consumer but also as a regulator of commodities demand. And since China is setting the demand, it also regulates the equities in the markets through the commodities. Economic clout has in turn given China political muscle and that is very important for China that had been out in the cold during Mao's years. China today is using its economic power to make inroads into the international arena of political developments, such as the UN, WTO, IMF, World Bank and so forth. The recent announcement of pumping 2 trillion yuan into the Chinese economy instead of 4 trillion, as it did in the aftermath of the last recession in 2007-09, was not taken favourably by the markets in the West. They expected more. Yet China wants to make its mark of how economically and politically important its role is in the world today. By cutting back on commodities consumption, China can send a signal to the West that, having a central control on its economy can exert a lot of pressure in the Western economies and governments as well that can no longer jerk China around. But on the other hand, China can not go in a buyer's strike for too long or it will create social unrest at home. Now China seems to have reached that critical point hence the recent easing. China also wants to send a signal to the commodiies suppliers of raw materials, BHP, Rio Tinto and Vale, that China can not be blackmailed into buying iron ore and coal at any price. And to this day it seems to have driven the message to these companies loud and clear. For the next little while China will have depleted its inventories of these commodities and will go back to the markets.