At the heart of the issue is what many international relations scholars describe as a textbook "security dilemma" between China and the U.S. whereby one moves to defend itself from a perceived threat, but its actions are perceived by the other as offensive, leading to an escalatory spiral.
In the end, the solution to Social Security's double dilemma -- of an immediate cash crisis and the threat of a long-range demographic disaster -- is unlikely to come from any single approach.