China is really scary. Ma isn't the first and won't be the last Chinese citizen to get disappeared. He's just making the news because he's a billionaire. So many trends put China and the U.S. at odds in the coming decades:
Communism vs. Democracy
Human rights abuses of their Uighur minority population
Rampant state-sanctioned (and sponsored!) IP theft to prop up Chinese business
State regulations requiring IP-transfer and company control from U.S. companies to PRC-controlled entities as a cost-of-doing-business in China
Chinese state sponsored hacking into U.S. businesses, government, education, utilities, etc
Chinese planting spies in research institutions and universities
Chinese law compelling any of their citizens to spy on behalf of the state - which they back up with blackmail and "re-education" of your family if you don't comply
Illegal 9-dash line claiming all of the South China Sea as their territory, hundreds of miles beyond internationally recognized borders
Militarization of atolls and islands in the SCS
Development of hypersonic "carrier killer" missiles
Silent development of China's nuclear warhead capabilities
China's launching 3 new aircraft carriers in the next few years, including one supposedly nuclear powered flat top, not just a Russian retread
"Belt & Road" initiative to tie Asia, Europe, and Africa even more closely to China's economy (and political power)
Border skirmishes with U.S. ally India
Great Firewall of China and propaganda machine spreading fake news to their billion citizens about the U.S. (e.g. "Corona virus was planted by the U.S. Army in Wuhan" "China did a GREAT job with COVID," etc)
Ratio of women:men in China is out of whack because of the (now rescinded, too late) 1-child policy, you'll have a lot of unattached (angry) men
China is facing an age-cliff in their population even worse than the U.S., they will have a massive retired age population to support soon
Extremism and populism on the rise in the U.S.
China positioned as the "bad guy" in the U.S. (which I believe they mostly are)
U.S. arms sales and support for Taiwan
China's unwavering position that Taiwan is part of China and continued threats of military action - and the quickly developing military capacity to back them up if we don't intervene
The U.S. worried about decline in power/not being the sole superpower anymore
China wanting to rise up, take it's "rightful place" as a superpower
I do worry about a flashpoint that starts a shooting war that could get out of hand quickly. On the other hand:
Our economies are tied very closely and it would be a MAD disaster if we had a military conflict
China is a big holder of our debt, which becomes pretty worthless if they crater our economy themselves
This probably belongs in a China meta-thread but I think the next 10-15 years China will do a bunch of stuff that sits just below the threshold for war. They'll keep pushing the limit as far as they can and toe that line to see where we push back. So far, our answer has been basically do whatever you want and we'll yell a bunch and sail some ships near you but that's about it.