re: Why not just try to get along with them?
SDF, I like your line of thought. I think the USA is morally obligated to sustain a progressive dialogue with China. The immediate global future depends on disciplined and positive interaction among the key players: EU, USA, Japan, China, Russia, India.
Militarily, China is actually reducing the bulk of the old leather-and-rifle army, and beefing up a small, high-tech, rapid mobility force (one capable of seizing Taiwan). I suspect that the Taiwan issue will be settled incrementally in closed conference rooms; there is already a massive symbiosis businesswise.