"It is the US that asserts a policy of isolation and punishment of China, not vice versa. So long as the US is maintaining a “defense perimeter” in the East and

"It is the US that asserts a policy of isolation and punishment of China, not vice versa. So long as the US is maintaining a “defense perimeter” in the East and South China Seas that extends to a few kilometres from mainland China, it is not dealing with a peer, it is threatening a recalcitrant" Perfectly put. US is hegemon and has been since end of WWII when all competing powers, including those in the victorious side, were so grievously damaged that US became the only country capable of refinancing and rebuilding the rest of the world. US is in decline only in relative terms, as China and India rise from grinding poverty to something like middle income