The Silent Reordering: How China Builds While America ShoutsWhile Washington warns of war, Beijing is busy laying BRICS.
As the world faces one crisis after another, a quiet transformation is taking place—not in the halls of Western parliaments, but on construction sites in Kenya, factory floors in Thailand, and solar farms in Chile. While America keeps sounding the alarm about a dangerous, rising China, it’s that China showing up with engineers—not soldiers—around the world. And people are starting to notice: it’s not Washington or Brussels that’s building their roads, ports, and hospitals—it’s Beijing. In a conversation with strategist Ali Borhani (in a Neutrality Studies Podcast), the contrast couldn’t be any clearer. The U.S. spends its energy lecturing the world about democracy and freedom. China, by contrast, sends concrete and cranes. The West talks about values; China delivers results. And that, more than anything else, is what really scares Washington. The Bulldozer vs. the BombChina’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) isn’t a mystery anymore, on the contrary, we now understand China’s strategy quite well. In the last decade, the country has built or funded over a trillion dollars' worth of infrastructure across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. That includes (among others) highways, bridges, ports, and energy systems. things people actually use. Meanwhile, America has spent the same years bombing countries, toppling governments, and selling weapons. Western politicians have been calling China’s investments “debt traps” or “authoritarian influence” for the longest time. But when you're a farmer who finally gets a paved road to sell crops, or a student who can study because the lights stay on, it doesn’t matter what the critics say. What matters is that someone helped. And increasingly, that someone is China. Of course this is not charity. It’s strategy. China has too much industrial capacity at home, and it needs to keep its economy moving. So instead of letting its factories sit idle, it builds abroad. But this isn’t empire-building. It’s partnership; these countries are asking for projects from China. If anything, many say working with Beijing is easier than dealing with Western-led institutions like the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank, which come with endless conditions and lectures. There’s a functioning railway between Mombasa and Nairobi—people can feel and use it. Over $1.5 trillion has gone into real infrastructure across the Global South, while the U.S. has managed only $50 billion under its Build Back a Better World plan, a taunted alternative to the BRI announced by G7 and led by the US under the Biden administration. This is less than one-sixth the money that went to Ukraine. For farmers, traders, and students, the choice is clear: China builds, others talk. Peace Through PatienceOne of the biggest myths in Western media is that China is just waiting to conquer the world. That it’s hiding its military power and will one day lash out like America has so often done. But reality tells a different story. China has only one overseas military base. The U.S.? Over 800. If China wanted war, it would have started one by now. It hasn’t. Because war is bad for business—and bad for stability. Borhani actually points out that China’s diplomatic approach resembles “Tai Chi”—measured, calm, reactive. Even when the U.S. launched tariffs, banned Chinese tech companies, and tried to block its access to global markets, China didn’t escalate. It responded, yes—but always calculatedly and carefully. Because its real power doesn’t come from threats or missiles. It comes from machines, materials, and manufacturing. This is why the West is nervous. Not because China is threatening war—but because it's proving that one doesn’t need to be violent to be powerful. It is possible to build influence with bulldozers, not bombs. When You Stop Building, You Start FallingWhile China is planning 10 years ahead, the U.S. can barely fix its own roads. Its economy runs on speculation and hype. American markets now swing on tweets, not technology; just look at the recent market surge driven by Truth Social, Donald Trump’s media company. The biggest movements on the NASDAQ weren’t caused by a new invention, a breakthrough in AI, or a next-gen battery. They were triggered by a tweet. A social media platform—not a technological leap—became a stock market darling. That says everything about what drives value in today’s American economy. Its leaders have been consistently lawyers and financiers, not engineers. The country that once built the interstate highway system now can’t manage a high-speed rail line from L.A. to San Francisco. In contrast, China is the world leader in renewable energy, rare earth minerals, and electric vehicles. While the U.S. talks about climate change, China is actually building the infrastructure to deal with it. While the U.S. spends billions on the military, China invests in ports and power stations. Let this settle in, which one behaves more like a world leader? Bridges, Not Bombs: Real Power Builds, Not DestroysThe future won’t be won on battlefields, but on construction sites. And if the choice is between bombs or bridges, most of the world already knows what it wants. China isn’t rising because it’s aggressive, it’s rising because it's useful. And for a tired, broken world, that’s more than enough.
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2025 Pascal Lottaz |
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