There have been productive educational, scientific, and technological exchanges over the past two decades. Here in Seattle there is the GIX collaborative computer science training program between Microsoft, the University of Washington, and Guangzhou University. Instead of stealing each other's technological secrets, perhaps it would be more productive to develop new technologies together. Instead of dividing the world up into spheres of influence (that worked so well in the 19th century!), how about the US and China find ways to cooperate in addressing international challenges? Why must the future be either US or China domination? I know, sounds naive, but how many wasteful cold wars do we need to go through to learn better?
China has no intent on using military strength to gain world dominance, they are way smarter than that. China seeks to become at the leading international player through economic prowess. Unlike most of our populist politicians, China realizes that globalization is here to stay, and that automation, artificial intelligence and knowledge based economies is the future of the winner nations.