China's recent stock market gyrations have some analysts now calling China the biggest bubble in history. But those who write off China because of market volatility are missing a more important long-term trend of Chinese geopolitical and monetary ascendancy. That trend shows no signs of abating.

China's leaders have a clever strategy, and Western financial powers may someday wake up in shock when they realize what has occurred.

It's true that the Chinese government has helped fuel artificial demand for property and equities. China skeptics who argue that these artificially inflated markets will crash to much lower levels could well prove to be correct. Some China doubters also argue that a downturn in China's economy will put downward pressure on commodity prices.

Commodities – from crude oil to copper to gold and silver – have already suffered a severe cyclical downturn. Commodity markets tend to be leading indicators, moving in advance of whatever economic story of the day the financial media are telling.

But single-day drawdowns of more than 8% in the Chinese stock market this summer certainly caused some forced liquidations of precious metals positions.

The very fact that booms and busts in China's markets and economy can now exert heavy influence in globally traded markets such as commodities proves the point that China's influence isn't on the wane. Not by a long shot. Even if China's double-digit rates of growth in the early 2000s prove fleeting and never return, China's economy still remains on track to eclipse the u.s. economy in the years ahead as the world's largest.

China, Russia Are Quietly Emerging as World's Gold Buyers

Chinese officials aim to ultimately to challenge the America's standing as the world's superpower. That's why they're forming a strategic alliance with Russia, an adversary of the U.S. That's why both the Russian and Chinese central banks have quietly emerged as the world's largest gold buyers.