Indeed. From the safety of their proverbial fortress city, they can undermine Western power and project their own in the resulting vacuum. A tried and true tactic adapted to modern instruments.

What I'm not sure about is why anyone is surprised. Especially in an age where everything is framed as a struggle for power, you would expect this to be the case, especially for an emerging superpower. Economics is here just war by other means, and consumerist lust for cheap goods the Trojan horse by which China will succeed.