Wang Kaiguo is chairman of China's state-owned Haitong Securities Ltd. He previously served in the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, China's state enterprise ownership umbrella. He is currently in London to finalize negotiations on the purchase of a Portuguese Investment bank, the Banco Espírito de Investimento SA, otherwise known as BESI. Haitong snapped up BESI for US$466 million. With Haitong valued at US$30 billion the risk is low and the benefits are big. BESI has offices in Lisbon, London, New York and Warsaw, and employs 750 people. It has established networks throughout the Portuguese-speaking world and operates in 16 European countries as well as in the Americas, Africa and Asia.

Chairman Wang also was invited to open the London Stock Exchange on June 10 and signed a memorandum of understanding to facilitate Chinese companies listing on the exchange. "As China's capital markets gradually open up, an increasing number of Chinese enterprises are seeking overseas development," Wang said.

Earlier that morning I had the pleasure of taking Chairman Wang and other senior executives from Haitong and BESI on a tour of Karl Marx's London's haunts. Marx once said that the best-case scenario would be if a communist government could buy out the capitalist companies, but he certainly would not have expected a communist to be opening the stock exchange in London, and least of all one from China.

Portugal offers a so-called "golden visa" to investors from abroad. Hundreds of wealthy Chinese have taken advantage of this so far, but it is obviously more important and beneficial for China when state-owned banks and enterprises buy assets and entities that can assist the development of China's national economy and help to extend its progressive international influence. The type of projects where governments in developing countries get Chinese know-how and construction capacity in exchange for resources are well known. However, the acquisition of enterprises that facilitate a rapid upgrading of the technical and scientific level of China's state enterprises is a vital part of China's strategy to catch up with capitalism and, where possible, to overtake it. The most famous area where China has overtaken the West is in high-speed rail. China has now built a network exceeding 16,000 km and is extending these rail links across the planet.

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