New Delhi, April 7 -- For at least a decade, developing countries across Asia and Africa have worried about growing dependent on the People's Republic of China. They're concerned about debt traps, coercive policies and hidden costs that might push their economies toward crisis.

Crisis has come, and that logic has been turned on its head. After six weeks of the US and Israel's war on Iran and its ensuing counter-attacks, it is the countries that bet on Chinese supply chains that are faring better than the ones that had trusted Pax Americana.

Consider Pakistan. By now it should have been in the middle of yet another economic and social implosion. It has always been vulnerable to energy price shocks, given that it imports almost all of its...