China was not developing into a worldwide manufacturing center 50 years ago. China didn't start to modernize its economy until the '80s, didn't join the WTO until 2001, after which production and trade really ramped up.

If the Ukraine war is an economic war, it's a terrifically unfair one. Russia has maybe 1/13 of U.S. manufacturing, 1/8 the gdp, Add in the strong Ukraine allied EU countries and those figures are more like 1/20 of the manufacturing and 1/14 the gdp of the U.S. and EU combined.

Russia has become a self imposed backwater in nearly every way and its decision to invade Ukraine is accelerating the process.

The supposed "Chinese system" is miniscule in comparison to the combined democratic states, and China is beset with demographic and environmental challenges as well.

Never say never but right now China is utterly dependent on Europe and the U.S. for its economic well being and is looking like that 97 pound weakling in the old cartoons. Adding Russia to the mix is to China like adding Mexico would be, not any kind of game changer.