Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, America has been the undisputed global hegemon. But that era is over. A new great-power rivalry has emerged between the United States and China—one unlike any before.

The rivalry between America and China significantly differs from the geopolitical contest between the U.S. and the USSR; the Sino–American relationship is both paradoxical and parasitic. As China has risen to become a near-peer geopolitical adversary, it has also become an indispensable trading partner that manufactures many critical items for U.S consumption, such as pharmaceuticals and microchips.

China’s ascendancy now threatens to cut off the supply of more advanced semiconductors made in Taiwan if Beijing opts for military action against the small island nation, potentially dragging the U.S. into a prolonged and bloody conflict.

Given this reality, neoconservatives are now in an awkward position of both advocating for war against China if Taiwan is attacked, while refusing to take the necessary (and difficult) steps to strengthen American manufacturing and lessen America’s economic dependence on the Communist state.