Bill - Containment and war are two different things. We absolutely worked every bit as hard to contain China as Russia; which has nothing to do with Mac being told not to go to war with China over Korea. His mission was to contain, he wanted to do more and got fired.
Dayuhan, you apply, intentionally I believe far too narrow a definition on "empower." To empower does not mean that one was powerless previously, just that they felt no need to do what they already know they should be doing. Like a 24 year old son still living with his parents. He knows he should be paying for his own place, cooking his own food, and doing his own laundry, but he is enabled to take the easy way out. Is it "abandonment" of such a son to tell them it is time to move out and get a job? No, to do so is to empower them to stand up and be a man. To continue the status quo is to enable behavior that isn't good for anyone in the long run. This is where we are with many of our Pacific Allies.
We are like a mother who is afraid to let them go, and they are happy to allow us to keep subsidizing a comfortable status quo. It is time for everyone to move on. We do not abandon allies when we do this, we empower them. Same when we share regional power duties with China. We do not give up power to them when we do this, we actually make our situation stronger, as we share onerous duties that profit everyone, and at the same time take away much of the rationale China employs currently to justify much the current military buildup that we in turn build up to match. End the arms race, it serves no (good) purpose. Sure it strengthens Chinese politicians position as they stand up to this affront, sure it keeps US defense contractors churning on tactical fighters and "A2/AD" systems that we really don't need. Those are purposes, but they are not good purposes, and they make our nation weaker, not stronger.
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