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Comment by seemslegit | Hacker News Reader

China hasn't "blown" anything - it is set to compete with US head to head on the world stage not with India over US investments.

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I'd go further and say there's nobody that can compete with China at this stage. Sure, some US companies are doing tactical investments here and there, meanwhile the Chinese government is plowing billions into basic infra like railways, ports and roads across swathes of Asia and Africa, and then its companies follow.

> plowing billions into basic infra like railways, ports and roads across swathes of Asia and Africa, and then its companies follow.

That hasn't worked out too well for them.

The reason no other country wanted to fund these projects, is because they have a history of defaulting on those loans. Additionally, these projects are a wound that doesn't stop bleeding. China has to continue pouring money in them for maintenance and upkeep too.

Unless China's goal is geopolitical neo-colonialism, I do not see any of their international infrastructure projects paying off any time soon.

They're playing a long game, and yes, that may well be their goal.

Not sure why you are being downvoted. China is clearly the one investing in foreign countries now, for instance see belt & road initiative. It is also clearly conpeting with US, with Trump administration exacerbating the conflict.

Even if you don't like China, you should not pretend they are a in a weaker position than they are.

The belt and road initiative is heavily hyped but hasn't resulted in any real concrete shift in trade. China is still making its money the old way - through massive amount of exports to advanced economies.

you should check one-belt-one-road again. it haven't bring any fruits that China is hoping for.

China is aging. while India have plenty of young cheap labors. its only natural for companies want India's labors and market.

The point is that they arent sitting around waiting for foreign investment, they are now the ones making foreign investment. The paradigm has shifled.

Its certainly debatable whether belt and road is successfull, but I have recently recieved package from China to UK by Rail so at least some good came of it.

Also the countries China is investing in were neglected by West and wall street for decades.

China is an heavily export oriented economy losing access to the markets of the advanced economies day-by-day. Their play is to pivot into a consumer market before their foreign reserves eventually dries up, but that's hindered by the large population.

It's largely a co-dependent relationship at this point, the advanced economies are as dependent on Chinese goods as China is on foreign currency, meanwhile China is actively developing future foreign currency revenue streams through long-term investment in developing economies.

>It's largely a co-dependent relationship at this point, the advanced economies are as dependent on Chinese goods as China is on foreign currency

The advanced economies are dependant on cheap goods, and not specifically Chinese goods. This will become more and more clear as decoupling gains pace. Corporate Japan has largely decoupled from China, with SK following close behind. US, Taiwan and European outfits are next.

China, however, is truly dependent on exports to advanced economies to sustain its economic and political model at its current stage of development. Its population is just too large.

> pivot into a consumer market

> hindered by the large population.

This just doesn't make any sense.

Simply put, there is not enough wealth inside China to sustain growth with such a large population.

Having a large population doesn't automatically result in a viable consumption based economy.

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