Its a electric lighting metaphor - on a world that abandons free trade and goes zero-sum. Take it literal to not deal with the given arguments, the reality depicted does not go away.

PS: If india rises similar to china- the dependence on trade rises- otherwise - they would have outposts similar to the chinese in africa all of a sudden. The situations and dilemas depicted are universal, thus any country given the societal equipment (culture) can bump into them.