Citizen Ben Investigates
Ben Cable (Originally Published on Substack Aug 30, 2025)
For decades, the United States strutted the global stage as the unchallenged economic hegemon, with dollar dominance, Wall Street muscle, and Silicon Valley innovation. But in the shadows, Beijing has been quietly weaving a web of influence, and today, that web stretches across continents. The world’s second-largest economy is no longer content with second place. China is openly laying the tracks to replace America as the world’s economic leader—and Washington looks like it’s still reading from last century’s playbook.
Beijing’s Grand Design: Silk Roads, Surveillance Money, and Supply Chains
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) isn’t just about building ports and railroads—over 140 countries now bear the imprint of China’s bulldozers, and many are chained by debt that Beijing controls, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. The pitch is infrastructure; the payoff is leverage.
Meanwhile, the digital yuan isn’t cryptocurrency; it’s a command currency. Every transaction is traced, recorded, and weaponized. Deal-making in yuan, particularly with oil and resource exporters, is already shifting the ground beneath the dollar.
And the supply chain stranglehold is real: rare earths, solar panels, semiconductors, China controls the modern economy’s DNA. The pandemic-era scramble for masks and medicine was no fluke; it was a dress rehearsal.
Trump’s Big Promise vs. the Dollar’s Steep Decline
When Donald Trump stormed back into the White House in 2025, he rolled out the patriotism hard: “Our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world,” he thundered at his inauguration. Great line, weak backdrop.
Because while he talked respect, the dollar sank, over 10% in the first half of 2025, marking its steepest fall since the 1970s, according to Morgan Stanley (Morgan Stanley). Goldman Sachs warned that from a still-elevated base, a further 25–30% drop is entirely plausible. And Time noted the greenback recently hit a three-year low, citing tariff shocks, policy whiplash, and investor skittishness. Talk about poetic irony: the President screams respect while the dollar melts.
This Weekend: China’s Summit and Global Diplomacy in Motion
While Trump’s still bellowing slogans, China is walking the talk—hosting a high-profile Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1. Over 20 world leaders and heads of global institutions are descending on Tianjin for what’s being billed as the bloc’s most consequential gathering yet, plus a show-stopping military parade in Beijing to follow.
Key attendees include:
- Vladimir Putin (Russia), reinforcing Sino-Russian alignment amid Ukraine tensions;
- Narendra Modi (India), marking his first visit to China in seven years—a potentially sweet olive branch in a frosty bilateral relationship
- Other SCO heavyweights hailing from Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Central Asian republics, plus observers like Turkey, Egypt, and the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
- And in Beijing, a military parade featuring North Korea’s Kim Jong Un alongside Putin—the optics are unmistakable: anti-West solidarity meets showcase force
What it means: while America tosses up tariffs and bluster, China is silently shifting alliances, projecting power, and shaping a multipolar reality where the U.S. may not be welcomed, much less respected.
Citizen Ben’s Bottom Line
America is still yelling about “flourishing and being respected,” but China is methodically rewriting the global rulebook. With its dollar slumping, allies drifting, and Beijing hosting the world, complete with military spectacle, Trump’s bluster rings hollow. Respect won isn’t earned by slogans, it’s built, and right now, China’s constructing while America’s still drafting tweets.
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