Italy’s Belt and Road engagement, which was led by the previous liberal administration, is coming to an end, but the inroads China has made in Italy means that creating distance can’t be done with the stroke of a pen.

China no longer needs to move mountains or reclaim seas, as in ancient legend. Through technology, infrastructure, trade, finance, people and government policies such barriers have long since vanished. The BRI does, however, revive an essential ancient spirit.

Recent headlines have broadcasted the Gulf Cooperation Council’s new deal with China, with tens of billions of dollars. Some may see it as a signal of a coming divorce with the West, but careful analysis reveals that the GCC can balance relations to both sides.

The race of geopolitical strategies based on infrastructural development abroad is a part of the new great powers rivalry. The so-called geo-economics contest (Luttwak) is the new global battle, a competition through commerce for getting economic advantages at the intersection of investments and loans, contracts opportunities, conquest of more worldwide market share and improvement of own supply chains, with the declared noble aim of contributing to global development.

The ability authors, musicians, and filmmakers have to tell stories can transcend geopolitics, but the current state of U.S.-China affairs offers almost nothing in terms of a meeting ground for the creatives of either side to exchange ideas. Repairing the cross-Pacific relationship will only get harder if big thinkers and storytellers cannot find a way to communicate.

In its pursuit for unipolar primacy, the Biden administration is risking the economic stability of China, the West, emerging Asia, and the futures of the Global South.

Pacific Island countries can benefit from both China and the United States, so their best choice is to cooperate with both. The new alignment will not disturb friendly relations between China and the islands.

The world is largely off track in terms of achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. But China’s Global Development Initiative and Belt and Road Initiative can work together for a better future.

The EU’s Global Gateway project is an answer to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and one that the EU hopes will provide a more liberal-led alternative to China’s investments. Whether or not a values-based approach to development will remain to be seen.

With the Winter Olympics bringing the world’s eyes to China, it seems that the stage is set for a major year of confrontation between rising China and the U.S., competing with rival benefit packages to draw third-parties away from their opponent.