We could solve the Chinese problem very simply, without firing a shot.
Quit sending them money.
Trouble is, the people in DC have gotten us into a position where the “free trade uber alles” rules the day - even to our demise.
Want to take on China and kill the minimum number of people? Then go to DC/NYC and kill some economists - especially the ones that infect the GOP’s foreign policy thinking with the idea that free trade will make dictatorial countries into western democracies. A loonier idea I’ve not yet encountered.
We could kill no more than about 100 people here in the US and then re-establish some common sense in our trade policies that would de-fang China without needing to get into a military engagement. We already are seeing just how sensitive the Chinese economy is to a decline in US consumer spending. Now extrapolate that to a situation where China has no market in the US for all their crap - and they go back to the 1970’s in foreign influence.
Sadly, we’re now addicted to their purchase of our debt.
It’s going to be a long road out of this quagmire.
As far as China goes, H.W. Bush was regarded as a preeminent world expert on China, and pulled some amazing victories against them, which will likely never be mentioned as such, as it would diminish the victory.
H.W. Bush was also gifted as a strategist, conceiving a concept called “linkages”, which added a third dimension to international strategy. W. Bush, for his part, has likely developed this Bush family capability into the realm of computing. Even before he had entered his first presidential race, W. Bush had locked up the Republican contributors, and begun construction of his Crawford, TX White House, which was finished shortly before he entered office.
In other words, while everybody else is limited to playing checkers, the Bush family are mastering chess. Taking into account thousands of variables, they may have achieved a “no loss” scenario on which to base their decisions.
Planning ahead by at least six months, for decades in the future, makes it very problematic to take on the Bush family, who will likely run circles around you without you even knowing it.
As far as the US and China are concerned, both sides have been deeply engaged in force modernization, anticipating a war between us, since the early 1980s.