Losing friends

China became the second largest economy by opening its arms to the world and submitting itself to international rules.

Today its impressive economic growth is sputtering. Joblessness keeps rising while its property sector is tanking. Local consumption is tepid. Foreign investors are pulling out and relocating to other countries, and several major economic partners are moving to disengage from Chinese supply chains.

China can no longer manufacture or export its way out of its economic doldrums. Its companies and their local partners overseas are getting blacklisted, with corresponding sanctions.

God created the world; everything else was made in China? Today, other countries are churning out products offering the same selling points of the made-in-China items: mass-produced in record time, at bargain-basement prices.

Not too long ago, people (myself included) completely swallowed China’s spiel about its “peaceful rise” – the reassurance that its armed forces buildup was meant merely to develop a military capability commensurate with the size of its economy, land and population.

What naifs we were.

I once even watched a military parade in Beijing celebrating China’s National Day, without any trepidation that the military hardware and firepower on display might one day be used for aggression against the Philippines.

OK, high-pressure water cannons, military-grade laser lights and powerful flares were not included in the parade. But at the time, there was still no talk about China’s gray zone tactics in waters it is trying to grab from everyone in the neighborhood. Its trading partners were not yet complaining about Chinese economic coercion.

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China prospered by winning friends and influencing the world. Its continued prosperity is now threatened by the loss of those friends and the erosion of the global goodwill that it built up over several decades.

Several of its major trading partners have admitted that decoupling from the Chinese economy is complicated. But they are pushing ahead, diversifying their markets and supply sources, with their private investors also moving to wean themselves away from dependence on Chinese products.

As for tourism,