Re: China lacks will and way to lead the world

May the question is less related to China's will and way but whether the
US and its hardcore allies could bulk up manufacturing. Today's US is
nowhere near yesterday's US in this aspect.
"China today has a nearly one-third share of global manufacturing
output—not as much as the United States at the height of its postwar
power, but a massive amount nonetheless. It was America’s manufacturing
dominance that enabled the spread of our commerce and power across the
globe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. China’s vast industrial
base gives it the same opportunity.
China has nearly half of global shipbuilding capacity. It is using this
capacity to build drone aircraft carriers, large LNG tankers, and
roll-on/roll-off ships for auto exports. China has 232 times more
shipbuilding capacity than the United States, whose industry has
consolidated to the point where we have to choose between building
submarines for our allies or for ourselves. We don’t have the luxury of
ice cream ships anymore.
It’s not just ships. Two companies in Shenzhen make virtually all of the
world’s commercial drones, while the United States barely has a
commercial drone industry. China surpassed the United States in share of
global semiconductor production within the last few years, and appears
poised to clean up in so-called legacy chips that power commercial
electronics, weapons, and much more. China is also the world’s largest
producer and exporter of automobiles, gas-powered and electric. The
United States still has an impressive auto industry, but the number of
vehicles assembled here hasn’t changed much since the turn of the
century. U.S. automakers now face an existential threat as Chinese
competitors like BYD build transplant factories in Latin America,
Southeast Asia, and Europe.
These aren’t random examples. All three technologies—drones, chips, and
cars—were invented in the United States (in the case of cars, their mass
production was invented here). General Atomics, Intel, and Ford Motor
Company were pioneers. In the span of a lifetime, the United States went
from dominating production of all three to facing the fight of our life
in these industries. Why?
America’s crisis of production is ultimately a crisis of productivity.
Total factor productivity has stagnated during the past half century,
diverging from trend in the 1970s. Manufacturing productivity did better
for longer thanks to a booming electronics sector, but since the Great
Recession, it too has stagnated. This stagnation means American
factories are missing out on an era of tremendous automation and growth.
The “alien dreadnoughts” are being built. But they are being built on
the other side of the world."
https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2024/08/rebooting-the-american-industrial-base-software-and-the-future-of-manufacturing/