AMERICA WANTS TO CLAW BACK ITS ASSETS – BUT CHINA ISN’T BACKING DOWN

The United States is clawing back Chinese investments like a gambler reclaiming chips after a losing streak. From forcing Chinese divestitures in semiconductor firms to demanding rollbacks in logistics assets near the Panama Canal, Washington is doubling down on economic nationalism. 

These moves are framed as necessary national security measures. But they’re more accurately read as a political and strategic effort to shrink China's economic reach.

China, however, isn’t folding. Instead, it’s launching a powerful counter-strategy that could reshape the global economic landscape.

When the U.S. forced Chinese companies to exit from critical tech holdings and banned exports of advanced chips, China responded not with retaliation alone, but with reconfiguration. It doubled investments into domestic chipmaking, poured billions into R&D, and accelerated decoupling from American technologies.

Take the rare earths sector. China controls over 60% of global production, and any hint of an export restriction sends tremors through defense and tech industries from Washington to Silicon Valley. Beijing is well aware of this—and uses it strategically.

But the real genius of China’s response lies in diversification. Through the Belt and Road Initiative, it has entrenched itself in critical infrastructure projects across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. While the U.S. is clawing back ports, China is building new ones — in Gwadar, Mombasa, and Santos. While Washington rethinks Panama, China is investing in Nicaragua’s canal dreams and expanding its influence along global maritime corridors.

In tech, China is not retreating—it’s exporting. From AI surveillance systems in Sub-Saharan Africa to 5G networks in the Middle East, China is positioning itself as a turnkey partner for digital transformation, offering what the U.S. will not: non-conditional, scalable tech with local control.

And in the financial domain, the U.S. may be trying to isolate Chinese assets, but Beijing is responding with the expansion of the Digital Yuan and promoting RMB-settled trade in oil, lithium, and more. CIPS is no longer an experiment — it’s an alternative.

So yes, the United States can claw back. But China has already pivoted. It’s rewriting the rules, reworking the alliances, and reengineering a global economy where the yuan talks, Chinese data flows, and strategic infrastructure has Mandarin signboards.

America may still hold the eraser. But China’s rewriting the future in indelible ink.

*Author's Bio: Teddy Okello is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and Program Lead at the Institute for Policy and Diplomacy, Nairobi, Kenya. His work focuses on review, critique and development of national and regional frameworks for governance, finance, health, infrastructure, climate change, international trade, security and geopolitics.