China is a (big) net consumer of copper, should be net long, what are they holding those short position for ? Maybe they bought too much copper and create an event to sell it off at higher price ?
It is conceivable they can do something like that －－ multiple agencies of the government conspire to trap international investors, even involving a few national security units. I don't think this kind of activity is a good idea in the long run and I doubt their execution capability, but certainly it is possible.
