Assuming that China has sufficient capital to build Belt & Road, which is not entirely clear. If we are in a total economic war with China, they will not have sufficient access to US $ to pay for investments. In fact, capital will flee China if they devalue their currency.
That’s not even counting if US decides to cut China out of the US banking system.
Their existing investments have been mixed because in their haste, there is a lot of waste and corruption. For every $1 spent probably somewhere around $.40 is wasted or “lost”.
But Africa is the next round of the Cold War, just like in the previous Cold War.
Just in, Trump adds an addition 5% tariff on all Chinese goods.