re: "East Asia allies doubt U.S. could win war with China" - a no-brainer!
A complementary article about social developments in East Asia is
here
I am especially interested in the categories of British colonialism/Socialism/Confucianism as the main organizational forms. In China, the 'communists' are aggressively pushing Confucius, now that Marxism has lost relevance. Of course Confucius was an archetypal absolutist (with scholarly qualifications). Notice that American 'pop culture' is present as an adhesive. What is developing is quite synthetic with many degrees of freedom in its dynamic possibilities. Thinking outside the box is in order.