Perhaps it's because of the overt nature of it's pressure, but it seems to me that China has definitely reached a level somewhat equal to the US in terms of "so

Perhaps it's because of the overt nature of it's pressure, but it seems to me that China has definitely reached a level somewhat equal to the US in terms of "soft power". Considering Belt & Road and it's influence over Africa, along with the Europeans not responding to US pressure and accepting Chinese Telecom infrastructure, it definitely seems like a 50/50 balance of soft power going forward.