That's funny I thought I did. It's about economic strength and the ability to keep pace militarily. True, it will be a few more years (10? less?) before they get close enough to really matter.
The threat of China today is greater than the Soviet threat was. China has an economy, the Soviets did not. The USSR was a third world country except for its military.
Will an even greater economy, one that includes those 800 million outside of the special economic zones, mitigate matters? W.W.II Germany and Japan were fairly prosperous, I believe.
Will the Chi-coms "launch a nuclear first strike on us?" I personally think they are much more apt to than the Soviets ever were. Not out of the blue necessarily but in any confrontation. Once they commit to a confrontation they'll do it, IMO. A nice test would be for the Chi-coms to put missiles in Cuba and see how Washington reacts.
Grenada and Nicaragua were short-lived. We'll see how long Red China has influence with Chávez and others.
Of course Eastern Europe is friendlier now than when they were republics in the U.S.S.R.
I was remiss in not emphasizing economics. It's the economy that's the difference between the old U.S.S.R. and Red China, IMO. One of the greatest one-liners ever would have been someone suggesting that the Ruble replace the dollar as the reserve currency.
Though Red China has tons of problems -- problems that I hope will sink it -- it's its growing economic strength that makes them more dangerous. In no way do I believe that the party will "whither away."
I was against granting China MFN status. If their government changes in the next 10 years, MFN will have succeeded, if not, it'll have been a mistake.