Who knows, the world is freaking nutz right now. It wouldn't surprise me if China wanted some kind of limited engagement to thin their herd a little bit. They are sure acting more belligerent than usual.
They do have multiple millions of single men who have no chance at a woman, due to their one child only policy for so many years, so they may be seeking to thin out the herd. As a new world military power, how else do they investigate their newly developed arms under fire? Look at all the proxy wars the USSR and US fought. Many new weapons were tested under combat conditions in these proxy wars. I am surprised though, that the Chinese have not found a country to test these weapons in a real war.