In August, China's factory-gate prices rose 3.8 percent year-on-year, outpacing forecasts and marking a quiet but consequential reminder that even the world's largest manufacturing economy cannot fully insulate itself from the tremors of geopolitical conflict far beyond its borders. Driven by surging crude oil and commodity costs linked to tensions in the Middle East, the acceleration reveals a familiar tension in the modern global order: the more deeply a nation is woven into international supply chains, the more exposed it becomes to the volatility of distant events. With consumer inflation