CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – News 2's Brendan Clark sat down with the former director for China at the White House under two administrations to discuss the United States' current relationship with the East Asian country. Liza Tobin is the current senior director of economy for the special competitive studies project. Beforehand, she developed numerous US strategies and policies related to China, including trade, economics, climate, environment, and military issues. "So things are a bit tense," Tobin exclaimed. That may be an understatement, but Tobin said Americans, for the most part, are optimists, and years ago, the country hoped to bring China, with the world's 2nd largest economy, into the global trading system. However, those hopes were dashed. "I think we are in a much more realistic place where folks on both sides of the aisle and the executive branch and Congress have their eyes wide open to the threats that the Chinese Communist Party poses to the United States and our allies," Tobin said. The tension and fundamental differences are very real. Tobin says that after Donald Trump recalibrated our strategic relationship during his first term, competition took off, and China sought dominance in a growing number of sectors like cloud computing and artificial intelligence. "When I was working for the US government about a decade ago, there was this notion that China can't innovate; it can only copy or steal technology from the United States,"  she said. "That assumption or myth is just no longer valid. So, you're absolutely right that in a growing number of tech sectors, China is catching up with or even surpassing the United States." So what can the US do about it? Tobin says we can start by revitalizing our defense and industrial base. "Really, our manufacturing base in the United States, we have let that atrophy over the last thirty or forty years," she said. "We thought that outsourcing production and manufacturing to east Asia and especially China was while it benefitted us in terms of efficiency gains and companies being able to pursue lower costs, it has really left us high and dry not being able to build, develop and create here at home." China is the number one long-term strategic concern for the United States. President-elect Trump has promised tariffs to deal with them economically, which would diversify trade away from the superpower. Tobin says that is a good first step as we are too dependent on our rivals for many of the things we need in our daily lives. "We want to be kind of systematic and strategic and thoughtful about how we build this future economic order and deepen our trade relations with other democratic market economies," she said. There are many ways to deal with China. Tobin says very few want war and what would come from it. The game changer now, she says, is AI or artificial intelligence. "Right now, we think that the US has a strong lead and that we're ahead of China, but they're racing hard to get ahead of us, and they're pouring a lot of resources into it," Tobin said. "So, we have to be careful not to let this lead slip." Another big concern for Tobin is seeing China band together with Russia, North Korea, and Iran. An axis of chaos, as she calls it, but adds China is the only nation that has the strategic intentions to rival America's superpower status.  If you have an Everyday Hero, email [email protected] or submit it here.