Here’s an article called How to Avoid a Sino-American War. I think this is a great idea because I have a sense that the world just can’t afford a major war. Global economic progress has never really recovered from the 2008 financial crisis. Maybe it just takes time, or maybe progress is fighting headwinds of food, energy, and water constraints brought on by climate change and natural capital depletion. If the latter is true, perhaps a major war would be the last straw that we just can’t recover from.

Some people thing such a war is a distinct possibility:

In 2001, when an American EP-3 spy aircraft operating over the South China Sea collided with a Chinese air force interceptor jet near Hainan Island, Chinese and US leaders managed to defuse the situation and avoid a military confrontation. Today, such an incident in the South China Sea, where China and several southeast Asian countries have competing territorial claims, would almost certainly lead to an armed clash – one that could quickly escalate into open war.

Last month, at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security conference, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong conveyed the deep apprehension of the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations about the potential for an armed conflict between China and the United States.

So does this article tell us how to avoid a war. You be the judge, but these words don’t mean much to me:

By activating top-level diplomacy, building strong crisis-management mechanisms, and enriching the rules of engagement in the South China Sea, a war between the US and China can be avoided. Given the vast damage that such a conflict could cause, this approach is less an option than a necessity.