I highly doubt that

 It is an entirely false conclusion to draw. If that were true, the geopolitical balance would have already come to an end. The balance of power would have been broken. With more military weight shifted to the united states over China, there would have been nothing stopping them from moving its military influence into Korea, Vietnam, and into China itself. The fact that it stopped at the 38th parallel and evacuated from the rest of Vietnam is evidence that this was as far as america's military influence could carry it. That where america ends, Chinese influence begins. Why force a spy plane to land in Hainan until an apology was made? Why not rein in North Korea? Why fire ICBMs over Los Angeles?

 This would have meant the end of history as fukyama put it. All other countries who could not balance out the us military would have fallen like dominoes. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the us did not attempt expand its influence into Asia to further confront China. Instead, it marched into the Middle East. If the us military was perceived to be great, it would have chosen a much more powerful enemy.

 The us military is all but a facade. Smoke and mirrors. And as Mao put it, a paper tiger.