"Sooner or later, a mistake will be made, and it will be on."

Joe, you are absolutely correct.  I STRONGLY suggest everyone read the new book by Graham Allison, "Destined for War."  Allison speaks to the inevitability of war with China and how what he calls "proximate causes" lead to such wars.  He details many examples over the past 500 years where this has happened and even digs back into Ancient Greece for examples.  Allison brings up several scenarios that could lead to war with China, some of which we are seeing today.