I mean China doesn't only just have straight up a larger economy and ability to push out more weapons, it also has nukes. Plus while most US developments seem subject to a heavy corruption tax, China is investing into new tech at pretty high efficiency rates.
US might be believing that they can have some epic equal level clash over the Pacific, but who is to say that will work out? With every passing year, an eventual US-China war looks less like the German-Soviet clash and more like the Qing-British clash. What exactly is US gonna do if they gather up a huge armada and it's simply spammed down by more advanced missile/drone swarms, since these are technologies US have been struggling with implemented despite more than 2 years ability to test it in Ukraine?
Today, China is in an unique position ironically similar to the British in the 18th century, in that it has totally superceded it's main rival in industry and infrastructure, yet much of the population remains unduly reverent towards American culture and goods of America, like how Europeans back then placed unduly inflated value on Chinese goods and ideas, simply because of their perceived heritage.
I think China should find a way to reverse these attitudes because sooner or later, it will be a duty of the Chinese state to discipline America back into the dustbin of history. The government of China must not make the mistake of granting too much grace to them.
