Japan is already heavily enmeshed with China in economic terms. Culturally there is deep antipathy but 'its the economy stupid'. In the end trade is wealth and wealth is power.

And China has hands won the trade war. USA is a fading power reliant, dangerously reliant, upon credit lines that come from outside of the US. The US Inc has been reliant upon financialisation based on USD hegemony which has weakened its productive capacity to such a chronic extent that to restore the US as a productive economy exporting manufactured goods is simply not credible.

China is raising its retirement age for blue collar women from 50-55, white collar women from 55-60 and men from 57-62? China leads the world in robotics and automation. China can build a robot equivalent to a $50,000 US made one, for $3000.

Agree Chinas culture is more autocratic and collectivist than US, but nations emerging into empire are usually much less liberal than they become as they become powerful and wealthy.

The 'rights' westerners might take for granted are only possible because the west has raped, pillages, enslaved and subjugated every other culture on the planet. Except China was too big and culturally deep and alien to fully subjugate, and now China is economically stronger than the US and building up its empire as the US sinks deeper into debt and decline.