As insane as it may sound, it should be the US sending container ships loaded with explosives to Chinese ports, supporting proxy-wars against China (Russia and India would come in handy for this), backing insurgencies, etc.
I completely get your angle. There was a time that the US was willing to do anything if it meant maintaining its dominance and lead. Even going as far as involving itself in matters that (to be honest) were extremely small scale affairs that it should not have been involved in (eg Cuba could have been managed better had the CIA not tried to manage it ....maybe i should explain more, but hopefully i do not need to).
Anyways, i believe that in the next decade or two the United States will be a form of Europe. A semblance. A veritable doppelganger. Akin to nations like France and the Netherlands.
And while some freepers may scream bloody murder when they read this they should look at it in the following way. Once upon a time France was a nation to be feared. They were strong, their forces potent, and their soldiers respected and feared. Nowadays the French are the butt of many a joke, and no matter what they do (eg the GIGN and the Legionnaires are pretty darn good) they will just not get any respect. Anyways, France was strong .....now they are weak as a nation.
Anyone who thinks the US is immune to that is being foolish. Europe is littered with nations that were once either global powers, or at the very least extremely potent regional powers. Goodness, even Portugal used to be a global power once, and Spain used to make nations and principalities around the world quake in their boots. Today they are all concerned with providing social care to one half of their population, and trying to promote euthanasia for the other half!
Britain ...Britain, the nation that has had the greatest empire ever to exist on this planet, an empire where the sun never ever set, an empire that included whole lands the Romans had no idea existed, and an empire that included in some way and manner all the continents in the world ....is just as impotent as the rest! And while some may say that they (Britain) were/are in Iraq it should be realized that that decision was made by Tony Blair's honchos. The populace does not support it by and large! (Although i have to say as a whole the Britons are made of stronger stuff than say the French).
Anyways, the US can easily follow suit. Already around half the population is French-esque in nature. Half of the population is still trying to 'understand' 9-11. Half the population still thinks terrorists can be 'reasoned' with, and that a 'softer' stance would be of greater prudence.
If Bush ever tried some of the stuff you said in your post he would be impeached! Goodness, if he tried some of the stuff Kennedy did (a democrat .,...but during the 60s when even Democrats had B@ll$) he'd be impeached. Geez, Abu Ghraib made many go insane just because some guys were made to pose naked (i am not condoning that, just saying that if that had happened some decades ago people would have been complaining that it was too lenient).
The funny thing is that the bad guys have no such restrictions. The bad guys can play fair when they want, and they can get grimey when its rootin' time in the pig muck! But we are supposed to wear white hats all the time, flash a toothy grin, and lay our coat in the mud for the fair lady to cross!
This is why i wish we could have an alliance with Russia. After all their economy is strong now and they are able to invest more in their military affairs. And they ahve no problems doing stuff that makes the UN shake their collective finger at them. Thus maybe the US would be the 'good cop' and Russia the cop who does things that would cost the good cop his badge!
But anyways, in two decades the US will be like Europe (no matter who is the president ....a Republican administration only slows down the degradation, but then not even by much). And in two decades China will either be a superpower in reality, or a superpower in all but name.
And i can assure you there will still be some who even then will be saying that China cannot cross the Taiwan bloody strait!