At the present time the US is unable to make any difference militarily in the Pacific if China decides to act. We don’t even have enough sailors to man our ships much less fight a war. China may not be perfectly prepared, but they might follow the Rumsfeld doctrine: “you go to war with the army you have, not the army you want.” In the perception of China, the U.S. has become what President Richard Nixon vowed we would never be: “a pitiful helpless giant.”
“...the U.S. has become what President Richard Nixon vowed we would never be: “a pitiful helpless giant.”
Unfortunately, that is now the reality.
The danger is that the NeoCons still think the USA is a military and industrial peer of China, and will launch some futile war to try and stop the Taiwan invasion.