I dont fundamentally disagree with you, but it should be pointed out that the USSR and its proxies in the Warsaw pact had about 0.4 billion people in 1980 to the PRC’s 1 billion. So it wasnt anywhere near 10x the size. The important difference IMO is that china has opened up economically, whereas the USSR stayed closed, and are acting out Lenin’s maxim of “the capitalists will sell us the rope to hang them”.
Because you used Russia and USSR interchangeably in your argument
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You first say what worked again Russia and the USSR (which is a bit weird, like writing new york and the USA) wont work against China, then say its because China has 10 times the pop of Russia.