The real reason: The most powerful people in China really want to win, long-term. Vs. the most powerful people in America really want to maximize their own wealth & status, short-term.

The most powerful people in Germany, Japan and the Soviet Union really wanted to win too.

Fealty to a new emperor will only get you so far when your best and brightest moved to Vancouver.

Is America losing though? Unless your only frame of reference is social media and smartphone apps then America seems to be trouncing China. America still has Google, Apple, Cisco, NVidia, ARM (by proxy), Microsoft, etc...

And don't even get me started on AI - Huwawei's AI is a dead fish compared to even Bard.