Any opponent of the United States will automatically find support in Beijing. Tensions will mount as problems in Korea and Cambodia become much more difficult to resolve. Before embarking on so risky and irrevocable a course, it is necessary to define correctly the challenge being posed by China. China's growth, while spectacular, starts from the base of a far lower gross national product than ours, according to various estimates ranging from 10 percent to 25 percent. The relationship is even more one-sided in the military field.
China is no military colossus bestriding Asia.
Moreover, unlike the Soviet Union, China faces strong neighbors. For at least the next decade, Japan will have a more formidable military establishment. Nor can planners in Beijing ignore the military capacities of India, Korea, Russia, Vietnam or Taiwan. Even China's rudimentary capability to attack the United States with intercontinental missiles cannot be used effectively. An American counterblow would leave China disarmed and defenseless in the face of neighbors it has historically feared.