As Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to Peru this week, he encountered something American diplomacy has long struggled to confront: an economic reality already settled without Washington's blessing. Peru's ties to China — woven through mining, ports, infrastructure, and supply chains — have grown too structural to be undone by diplomatic appeals alone. The visit illuminates a broader truth about this era of great-power competition: nations with options will use them, and the country that arrives with capital often outpaces the one that arrives with conditions.