I mean, I haven't exactly hidden which side I'm on lol.
As a US citizen, working in DOD-land no less, it should be understandable that I want the US to do as well as possible. As a result, I do indeed consider China to be our #1 competitor. After all, I wouldn't be so disaffected about our (many) failings if I didn't want us to do better.
With that said, just because we're rivals doesn't mean that I have any ill-will towards the PRC. I personally believe competition is healthy, and that by having another country around who can actually punish our failures, we are more incentivized to innovate and better ourselves. Ideally, we would be able to achieve a peaceful but competitive co-existence, wherein both nations feel "pushed" to explore more, discover more, invent more, etc. than the other side. I believe that such a dynamic would be the best outcome not only for us, but for CN as well. I don't even think such a dynamic requires animosity between the sides.
However, this is obviously not the reality that we're trending towards. Instead of taking measures to materially improve our position, we instead dump resources into the same senselessness that got us here, opting instead to take petty potshots at China's own efforts to improve theirs. As others have said, yes, CHIPS and other similar acts have been cobbled together as a response to CN initiatives. While I am entirely on board with them in principle, the efforts themselves are often ensnared in political showmanship, lobbying concessions, and bureaucratic red tape, resulting in little more than big promises, high costs, and little gain. It is going to take a lot more than just throwing money, tax breaks, and slogans at our problems to fix them; and unless we're wiling to take such measures, no amount of ankle-biting sanctions or histrionic headlines is going to stop you guys from surpassing us.
As a bit of an aside, since the DC-fellating think tankies et al. are the ones doing some of the worst damage, calling them out for their imbecilic shrieking is actually doing us a favor. Just one example of how you guys giving us a wake-up smack every now and again is beneficial (not to mention, probably highly cathartic for folks on the CN side - and rightfully so, given how we've treated it).
