The West doesn't just have money, it also has the resources of three continents - Europe, North America, and Australia. All that colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and genocide have given them a tremendous advantage over the rest of the world and especially China, which is relatively resource poor.
China has the resources of continent sized Russia and the Middle East, not to mention its own resources that are about the same as North America's. The more important part is if resources can be used to produce useful stuff.
Having how much iron ore or whatever buried is just not useful at all if you can't get machines to dig it up and refine it, machines which requires parts to function, so you better hope you have the industrial competence to make them competitively.
Control of the seas is key. If China cannot protect its trade with the Global South then the West will win by just having more resources and trade "partners" to exploit. This is why investing in a navy is still worth while.
If the west attempts a blockade on China's seabound trade, China can also attempt a blockade on western ability to access resources in Australia and Europe. China effectively borders Europe through Russia.
There will not be much resource extracting from the west's much vaunted "3 continents" when 2 of them will be under constant severe bombing.
Which leaves us with north America alone, and as I've stated before, I think that is a concession China has to make to the western "civilization", solely because of nukes. Let them have north America and practice their dictatorship there, as long as they stay there.
