Our government has been pretty clear it treats China seriously. But realistically, most Americans give China way too much credit and assume a level of competence that simply isn't there.

This happens all the time with authoritarian regimes: They pump out all this bullshit about how they're an unstoppable juggernaut lead by a shrewd dictator unencumbered by the chaos and inefficient constraints of democracy.

And Americans buy this, because they never actually do any research, and because our democracy is so frustrating and inefficient, and we all wish somebody could come in, snap his fingers, and solve all our problems.

And then, inevitably, it turns out the dictatorship is rotten from corruption, the Genius Leader is completely insane and detatched from reality, their soldiers can't actually fight, and they're openly lying about their stability. Because that's reality.

This doesn't mean we should become complacent or not treat China seriously, but they are in no position to be overtaking us in...pretty much anything.