The Chinese have not tried to expand their territory in decades. So, any battle will be in space, in the water, and over cables.
But, they lob a few cruise missiles into the west Coast navy bases, kill a few thousand, and this country will roll over. This is not the same US that reacted to terrorists in 2001.
But, cut off their access to communications and drop a few rods from God into Shanghai and thing will get interesting.
Like Obama said - if we get hit with nukes, we can just absorb it and move on ... the txxd.