Twenty years ago The Economist had an article pondering if it would be clever to help China to feed itself (that was in doubt in those times) and to allow it to export and develop its economy. China was a very poor country then. The conclusion was that it would be immoral to let a quarter of humanity starve and condemn them to misery. There was also something about opening new markets. I went to China at those times and was received very nicely, and got the impression that China was freer and richer than imagined. I was convinced that it would be sinful (and unthinkable) to re-colonize and enslave these friendly, good-willing, intelligent people, as the cruel British imperialists did with the opium wars. (see caricature).
Now Prof. Mearsheimer writes in Foreign Affairs that this liberal policy was a fatal mistake, realism should have dictated a hard policy, and now America has got itself into difficult rivalry with China, a big broch. He predicts war.
These conflicts would be fought mainly in open waters between rival air and naval forces, and in those instances in which control of an island was at play, small-scale ground forces would likely take part. Even a fight over Taiwan, which might draw in Chinese amphibious forces, would not involve huge nuclear-equipped armies crashing into each other.
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