And on top of that, we get into so-called "intangibles." Stuff that is extremely important for a military but is something that you cant really put down as a solid, on paper thing. The two obvious ones that spring to my mind are carrier ops and damage control.

The US Navy has been the premier operator of carriers since WW2 forced us to learn the hard way. And a lot of the operations for said carriers are because of harsh lessons learned in the early days when, much like the Japanese, we still considered the carrier a second-class unit and as such had not invest time or money into them. But through these, we learned how to make carriers work, planes do their job, the whole 9-yards. The Chinese have had no such training, and neither did the Russians who they bought their carrier from. Or did you think they designed the Nimitz and the Ford the way they did just because its pretty, and not because it is as efficient in carrier ops as possible.

And then damage control, which again we learned the hard way. And what we learned the hard way is that, if you make literally everyone on board a damage control officer, then you can start making repairs the second the ship is damage. To use an extreme example, the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58, not DE-413, although she was also a tough bitch to sink) hit an Iranian mine, which blew a 15-ft hole in the ship, flooded the engine room, destroyed 2 turbines, and knocked out power on the ship, and BROKE THE KEEL (you know, that minor part of the ship that only holds all of it together?)! And yet, the Roberts managed to stay afloat long enough to be rescued, and was even repaired and served another 30 years before finally being retired. That is the absolute insanity of US damage control. That taking a hit that is fatal to 99% of ships was something that the sailors looked at and went "Oh look, a challenge" and kept the ship alive to fight another day.

I also dont buy the Chinese economic dominance. While some major companies like Apple intend to stay in China, Walmart just recently announced they are moving their main suppliers to India. And as the single largest importer in the US, they hold a lot of sway with other industries who will piggyback off of the shipping lanes. Especially as many of those industries are starting to get sick and tired of having their IP stolen and copied by the Chinese to be sold back at below cost.