Buying a large share in a Pink Sheet company might be simpler than purchasing one that's listed on the TSX-Venture exchange. If I recall correctly, current rules state that anyone who buys more than a 10% stake in a venture listed company must file a "take over" claim with regulators. I think Puplava announced he would buy a sizeable chunk of a listed company a couple of years ago, and had to file a take over letter of intent in advance. Only problem is this triggered a lot of speculative purchasing which really drove up the SP but subsequently the stock did come back to Earth shortly after the frenzy passed.

Still I would imagine that share prices would remain elevated if it were known that China was making a concerted effort to buy up a percentage of the Venture Exchange not unlike the way index funds buy up percentage stakes in underlying companies that represent a given index. On the other hand, I would think China would be more inclined to buy up the better companies like ECU, lock stock and barrel given the rampant naked shorting in this sector as under this environment of widespread share counterfeiting, this would be the only certain way to ensure one holds a guaranteed percentage stake in any given resource company.