Back to China, it's ironic that you're all arguing about who would win a war between the US and China and it's really not an issue. Political leaders may not be the brightest, but they're not stupid enough to start such a conflict. The reason countries keep deferring to China is the same force that runs through most political decisions: money. China is the biggest growing market in the world and if you piss the Chinese off, they will hold it against you and it will have a noticeable impact. Do you think all the American companies which have bent over backwards to get a foothold in China (I mean look at the length Google went to censor their search engine) would be happy if the Bush administration got the Chinese angry?
It's the same reason the Prime Minister of my country didn't want to meet the Dalai Lama. It makes China angry and Australia loses billions of dollars of export contracts for oil, gas and minerals to China.