English wasn’t the default due to a head start with the internet.

It was dominant due to a British Empire that stretched across the world for CENTURIES. English is still the predominant language for all international shipping, aviation, and financial transactions.

This same type of talk occurred in the 80’s when folks were encouraged to learn Japanese as it would soon be the new lingua Franca.

In the grand scheme of things, it obvious and not fairly deniable that pictographic languages are incompatible with a computer-based culture. While the spoken Chinese language will survive, the written form will be an unused relic in a century or two.