This is true enough:
The United States has no interest in a war in the Western Pacific. Its current situation is satisfactory, and nothing is to be gained from initiating a conflict. The United States is not giving up the Pacific – it fought wars in Korea and Vietnam as well as World War II to keep it. The U.S. can’t invade mainland China or conquer it. It cannot expose its forces to massive Chinese ground forces. In this sense China is secure. China’s fear is maritime – isolation from world markets. And that possibility is there.
That does not mean that there isn't a role for America's Army around China's periphery in large-scale combat operations with regional allies who are fighting China; or in large temporary forays into China alone, as I wrote in Military Review.
Heck, if China breaks apart in civil war or secession, regional allies might be Chinese armies.
But yeah, America doesn't want war, and naval and air power can really hurt China. But I do want our Army to distract the Chinese and dilute their power out of fear of where the Army might be sent.
I mined that Friedman article for a lot.
