Think tanks in the United States seem to be excessively creative. The latest example is a study by three researchers of Rand Corporation, which is considered close to the US military. The 116-page paper, "War with China: Thinking through the Unthinkable", says a war between China and the US in the next 10 years is "not unimaginable".

The paper projects four possible types of war: short-term low intensity, long-term high intensity, short-term high intensity, and long-term high intensity. And it concludes that in any case China's losses would be more that of the US.

The US media love to talk about a possible China-US war, but Rand is the first to discuss it in such detail. Perhaps some people in the US have reached a conclusion that Beijing has already become Washington's arch rival.