President Biden portrays US relations with China as a clash of values: democracy vs. autocracy.But his rhetoric obscures the administration’s more pragmatic approach of cobbling together groups of countries to work together on technology. The goal is to remain ahead of China semiconductors, artificial intelligence and other advances that are expected to define the economy and military of the future. Preliminary conversations with US allies have initiated, though the effort is expected to take months. The strategy has both offensive and defensive components. By combining efforts, the US and its allies can vastly outspend China, whose research-and-development budget now almost matches the US. The alliances can also coordinate policies to deny China the technologies it requires to attempt to become a global leader. Hemlock Semiconductor of the US manufactures polysilicon used to make solar cells but has had no cells to china due to tariffs and other factors. The US plans to organize different alliances depending on the issue, said a senior administration official, who called the attempt a modular approach. The different groupings generally would include most of industrial powers of the Group of Seven nations, plus some others.