On the other hand Vietnam could be summarised as black spends 5 pawns a rook and a knight to take out 1 pawn. It isn't necessarily a question of who would win

On the other hand Vietnam could be summarised as black spends 5 pawns a rook and a knight to take out 1 pawn. It isn't necessarily a question of who would win a fight to the death, and more a question of how big a bloody nose the US would accept. My guess is China would be willing to accept a much bigger bloody nose, who reaches their limit first? Of course theres a fine balance here. Vietnam was never an existential threat to the US, could China be/ portrayed to be? That obviously changes the calculation.