Taiwan
The best way to compete with China is non-military. We need a unified trade block including the G7 plus invitees to include India, Australia, Indonesia, Phillipines, South Korea and Viet Nam to play economic hardball with China. The Chinese economy is, or soon will be, too large for the US to compete economically head to head alone against China.
A revival of the military alliance of SEATO would not be a bad idea either. But leadership is required to oppose China in both the economic and military spheres. The USA must provide that leadership.
We could have had that with the TPP but certain US politicians view ANY cooperation with pro-free trade, pro-democracy allies as being, well, un-American.
The isolationist, now-nothing, shut out the rest of the world sentiment has taken over one of America's two major political parties like wildfire. And it ain't going away anytime soon. Even trade with Canada, with whom the US enjoys a surplus, was deemed a threat to national security by the previous administration.
America's allies (and enemies) know that the post-War on Terror USA has zero appetite for international alliances, is uninterested in defending allies or even treating allies like, well, allies. The current administration not withstanding (and it's fantasy of turning the clock to America's pre-2003 standing in the world), the rest of the world is certain that the post-Cold War Era is dead and buried and the American Century is now part of history, never to be duplicated or even restored.
America will remain rich and have a high standard of living for some time now, but so does Belgium, Italy and New Zealand, all of whom have pretty much zero influence on anything. America will be just a big Belgium, only with a large military it will never use again.
The rise of China can only be stopped by China making self-inflicted mistakes, which is certainly possible - just look at their history. But America has abandoned its once unassailable position as leader of the free world. For better or worse (I believe worse.)
Comparison: France in 1940 had the largest and most powerful in Europe, maybe the world. It was a first class industrial power and had a massive empire, 2nd only to the Brits. Yet the Germans overran France in 30 days. Why? German military prowess, for certain. But France's political factions hated each other more than the invading Germans. Nobody wanted to fight and die for "those people", meaning their fellow Frenchmen. Some preferred the Germany of Adolf Hitler, not unlike a lot of Americans preferring the Russia of Vladimir Putin today. France (a wealthy country, a comfortable place to live) has been trying for 80 years to restore its pre-1940 greatness, laughably.
The US in the year 2021 is probably even worse off than France in 1940. We are just lucky not to share a border with a hostile power like France did. Unless you count Canada.*
* Reference:
https://thehill.com/opinion/nationa...national-security-threat-to-the-united-states