Chyna goes with quantity over quality. Any US quantum computer will beat Chyna one to one, but they build more of them because they believe quantity bears quality.
Brute force sometimes has advantages.
What I would like to see the NYT examine is the question of what kind of regulatory or legislative action could be taken that would not retard the US advantage and close the gap for the Chinese? I think the answer is none. The big challenge we have is to avoid regulating something that is moving so fast that legislative and judicial processes will never catch up.