Because the Chinese have a history of thinking long term. At a meeting an American diplomat asked Zhou en Lai what he thought of the implications of the French Revolution. He thought for a moment, and said - “I don’t know. It’s too early to tell.”

American companies focus on the next fiscal quarter. The Chinese are already planning ten years in advance.

All sane people know that solar energy and green energy is going to be a huge growth sector. The Chinese have invested heavily in it. The price of solar energy is decreasing all the time. Trump stopped the funding for the development of solar. He claims climate change is a Chinese hoax designed to hurt American manufacturing.

Meanwhile, the Chinese are doubling down. They are also investing heavily in robotics, A.I., supercomputers, and other high tech areas.

To make a quick buck the U.S. corporate executives decided to embark on a neoliberal capitalist journey. Deregulation, privatization, free trade, breaking unions, pushing tax cuts for the rich, and offshoring factories caused the decimation of the middle class in America.

The infrastructure crumbled from lack of funds for repair. The rich got richer. America fell apart. The GOP is now doubling down on the same policies.

The American economy now relies on cheap borrowing because America is the world’s reserve currency. It also relies on financial “products,” which are shell games done by Wall Street. It is an economy of illusion. China went in a different direction. It invested in manufacturing. It builds things. It optimized its infrastructure for future growth. It is preparing for expanded growth in Africa and other places.

Instead of wasting money on the military it is focusing on internal growth. By 2032 it will surpass the U.S. in economic size. The U.S. has skyrocketing inequality and the poverty level is increasing. In China there is more inequality, but other policies have been enacted to ensure that poverty is reduced.