> China is dead set on war with us. No use kidding ourselves. <
I would slightly modify that to say: China is dead set on destroying us.
But I can’t see how a hot war would benefit them. All of their trade with the United States would cease. No more Chinese junk on the shelves of Walmart. Plus our government would presumably seize all the US land China has been buying up.
Better that the ChiComs stay the course. Continue to bribe US politicians, as you noted. Siphon away our wealth with cheap imports. And use the Spratley Islands to intimidate nearby countries.
Just my two cents. And two cents isn’t worth much, given Biden’s inflation.
“All of their trade with the United States would cease. No more Chinese junk on the shelves of Walmart.”
And what nearly everybody completely ignores is: no more imports that China needs to keep its manufacturing going. Everyone know that China is the #1 exporter but few also consider that China is also the #2 importer in the world. They import a lot of key goods they can’t run their economy very well without, and almost all of their top trading partners are Western nations that would cease all trade in the event of a major war.