> China is doing what it can to stop from becoming an American vassal.

More accurate would probably be China is doing everything possible to create its own vassals via soft-power initiatives like Belt and Road, predatory debt lending, etc.

It’s kind of interesting you mention neocolonialism because that’s exactly how China’s actions in Malaysia have been described…

https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/2018/4/6/17206230/china-tra...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt-trap_diplomacy

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/13/magazine/a-malaysian-inst...