‘Beijing’s parade proves China is in full control’

This is apropos two back-to-back letters from this writer carried by the newspaper on Wednesday and yesterday.

Washington responded by pouring billions into domestic rare-earth mining projects under the Defense Production Act, hoping to reduce reliance on China. But without Beijing’s decades-long refining infrastructure, recovery will take at least a decade, if not longer.

Even as Trump threatened harsher tariffs to force China’s compliance, Xi Jinping did not flinch. The world saw, perhaps for the first time, that America’s economic lifeline had shifted decisively eastward.

While Washington reacted defensively, Beijing quietly built an entirely new architecture of global trade and influence. Through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has connected more than 150 countries via roads, railways, ports, energy pipelines, industrial zones, and digital corridors.

Unlike the West’s traditional dependency model, Beijing offered investment, infrastructure, and market access on terms many developing nations found more equitable.

Across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe, countries that once relied on US aid and NATO trade structures are now participating in Beijing’s economic ecosystem. By empowering local economies through financing and infrastructure, China created an alternative model of prosperity — one based on cooperation rather than coercion.

India’s defiance of Washington perfectly captures this new reality. When the US demanded New Delhi stop importing discounted Russian oil, India firmly rejected the ultimatum, declaring that no foreign power had the authority to dictate its survival strategy.

Through partnerships with Russia, Iran, and China under SCO frameworks, India secured energy stability, modernized its infrastructure, and strengthened its role in regional connectivity projects. Russia, for its part, proved remarkably resilient against US and EU sanctions.

Instead of buckling under Western economic isolation, Moscow deepened its energy and defence ties with Beijing and New Delhi, shifted trade settlements into yuan and rupees, and bypassed dollar-dominated systems. This acceleration of de-dollarization weakened Washington’s financial leverage and strengthened the SCO bloc’s independence.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025