"Over half of the world's commercial vessels are now built in Chinese shipyards, and the country has the largest domestic and overseas port network" [half of the world's commercial vessels]
Controlling over half of global shipbuilding plus the largest port network gives China structural leverage over maritime commerce that operates independently of naval force, directly supporting the claim that economic dominance substitutes for naval power projection.
Reasoning from this article
The article distinguishes between naval power and maritime power, arguing China has achieved the latter without yet matching the former. This generalizes to a broader structural dynamic: states that dominate the physical and financial infrastructure of trade (shipyards, ports, insurance, currency) can coerce trading partners and undermine open-order enforcement without triggering the military escalation thresholds that would activate U.S. conventional superiority. The mechanism is the same whether applied by China today or any future industrial-maritime hegemon.