But why? ....China aching for a conflict they can pull the US into?
China has several problems.
1. There are 30 million young Chinese men that statistically will NOT be able to find a girlfriend or wife thanks to the one child policy. Guess what happens when the imbalance is this bad in a totalitarian society where ‘the government is responsible for everything.’
2. As a result of 1, the Chinese government needs to find somewhere to redirect that anger and the attention of the rest of the populace to be able to remain in power. This is why China’s been so anxious to saber rattle and find someone to fight in recent years. The Big Lie still works and they need it to.
3. Since they need 1 and 2 to work, they might as well kill two birds with one stone and get into a real fight where they can dispose of excess population - hard to cause trouble for the Politburo if you are dead, after all.