To the side of the reception desk at a Crowne Plaza Hotel just north of Wilmington, Delaware in the United States hangs a small plaque. Placed between a sign stating that the hotel is owned and operated by Delaware Hotel Associates, LP, and a framed state of Delaware business license, the plaque says simply, “Minmetals.”
Were it not for the four Chinese characters accompanying the one-word English translation of Minmetals, few would suspect that the hotel’s ownership has anything to do with China. To the initiated, however, those four characters say, “Zhongguo Wu Kuang,” and they mean “China Minmetals Corporation.” Minmetals is a behemoth mining, minerals, and metals organization owned and under the direct control of the Chinese government. It ranks number 109 on the Global Fortune 500 list of the world’s largest companies.
Were it not for the four Chinese characters accompanying the one-word English translation of Minmetals, few would suspect that the hotel’s ownership has anything to do with China. To the initiated, however, those four characters say, “Zhongguo Wu Kuang,” and they mean “China Minmetals Corporation.” Minmetals is a behemoth mining, minerals, and metals organization owned and under the direct control of the Chinese government. It ranks number 109 on the Global Fortune 500 list of the world’s largest companies.
