China bought a 14.99% shareholding in Rio's London-listed company, which equates to an interest of around 11% in the whole group which includes the Australian listed firm.
Perhaps the most revealing aspect of this adventure in high-altitude advertising is that Communist China's latest assault on Everest is being paid for by a New York-listed company.
Unicom's edge is that it is the only listed integrated telecommunication company in China, with wireless, paging, domestic long distance and Internet divisions.