Subject: Re: Kuwait Air Defenses Down US Jets
If China enters into the calculus at all, it is secondary.


Nope. This is what's called a strategic rebalancing.
China has the ability to put the West's nuts in a vice with respect to critical minerals and manufacturing. Okey, fine: We're setting conditions to put *their* nuts in a vice in terms of access to energy.

A good old fashioned Mexican standoff. The economic version of strategic nuclear deterrence ca the Cold War.