Basically China hoardes gold because it's a no lose situation for them. Being one of the largest holders of USD debt as well as one of the largest stockpilers of gold put's them in a unique position to ultimately make a play on the USD as world reserve currency. Just imagine Russian based oil sold for some Chinese denominated coin backed by actual gold?! Stormy sea's on the horizon for our little Island of consumption I'm thinking.
China only missing 2 more elements replace USD.
1) A military capable of defending itself.
2) Oil reserve.
Once they have both, US will be at its mercy for economy survival.
1. The US military couldn't even conquer the Taliban, China has nuclear weapons.
2. China will end its oil dependency before the United States. (Compare their energy policies.)
This.
The US facing off against China would be a long campaign that would end up with china winning.
Let's use numbers.
If China's infantry are trained 60% as well as American forces, that's still more than double the total training that the USA has. 4,000,000*60% as opposed to 1,000,000*100%
Plus China has lots of hardware, but so does the US, so it comes down to quantity as opposed to quality. An M1 Abrams can only take so many shells before one penetrates it, especially if there are 3 tanks firing at it.
This may be a bad example, but it probably illustrates it the best.
So China could very well beat the US, but it would be a long war.