Suddenly everyone seems to be fretting about the prospect, one day, of a war between the United States and China. This is something that should worry the blazes out of everyone on the planet, Australians more than most. After all, one of the two biggest kids in the global playground is our traditional military ally, the US. And the other is the giant trading partner on whom our economic prosperity rides. We can't dig holes fast enough to supply the resources stoking Chinese industry's voracious appetite. But the stronger China becomes the bigger the threat it poses to US global primacy. We are unwittingly playing both sides of the street, and we're going to have to keep a careful watch on how their relationship pans out. We don't want to become a Chinese takeaway, nor do we want to bite the hand that feeds us. "The nightmare scenario is a serious military confrontation between China and the US over sovereignty or resource issues that forces us to choose," says Alan Dupont, a senior fellow at the Lowy Institute. If Australia decides to follow Japan and South Korea and host US combat troops on our soil, he warns China could target Australian facilities in the event of a wider conflict. "Getting China wrong will have seriously detrimental consequences for our future security and growth," Dupont says. Other experts contend Australia is already a potential target because it hosts vital joint intelligence gathering facilities. Either we are in the ANZUS alliance or we aren't, they argue; we shouldn't expect benefits without risks. If the US and China lock horns, people who know a lot more than me are worried about the conflict going nuclear. As American satirist Tom Lehrer once noted, all wars produce great songs, but if any hits are going to come out of World War III we had better start writing them now. Defence strategist Hugh White, of the Australian National University, says America's primacy in Asia has not been tested for 40 years. But what if it is? "Being a close ally of an uncontested power is the best deal going for Australia," he says. "But if there is an orderly alternative, forget primacy." Experts don't expect serious problems to arise for a couple of decades. But America's preoccupation with terrorism and the global financial crisis, they say, has caused it to take its eye off China's stupendous recent growth. Why shouldn't America contend with China the way it disposed of the Soviet Union? Simple - the USSR was a financial basket case, whereas China's economy works. Australia's big defence installations should be switched from the south-east, where our biggest cities are, to the north-west, where our most valuable resources lie. Why has it taken so long for the government's defence reviews to consider this? The standing joke is that we are now ideally positioned to repel any invasion from Antarctica. Meanwhile, our biggest border preoccupation has been with a few desperate Asians risking their all in leaky boats. Isn't it time we ended the political one-upmanship over asylum seekers and concentrated on the bigger strategic picture? The bulk of our riches are transported by sea, which should make the shipping lanes off our north-west the highest priority. Meanwhile, a maritime arms race is on in South-East Asia. My advice is look long term and follow Kevin Rudd's example. Get your kids speaking Mandarin.