magyr,
Viewing the China expansion as an economic policy opposed to a military intention; to date it has made significant progress. There will be military defensive positioning to follow up - providing support to foreign nations in return for use of ports or infrastructure, most likely defending a much needed resource. Look towards Africa.
Thus it is interesting to reconsider this aspect post Covid.
China's manufacturing capability appears to be faring as well as any in the current economic climate. The dependance on oil may not be as significant now as would be basic materials, food, cheap manufactured goods. Thus world positioning vs essential resource could dominate - consider the focus on rare earth metals used in computers, phones, etc.
In parallel there is high level education, technology development, energy resource, and a relatively low cost infrastructure to support these.