American economy thrives on war if you haven't noticed yet. They spent ~2 trillion USD bombing tents and caves in Afghanistan for 20 years just because some Jihadi bombed New York.
Do you think China will do the same ?
Real question will be, how does China plan to defeat 3 American carrier strike groups and plan a successful assault on Taiwan at the same time ?
It's a myth honestly.
The American elite thrive on war not the economy itself.
All those years spent in foreign wars have now resulted in unprecedented lack of proper infrastructure back home exponential medical bills a rising real estate bubble inflation industry removal etc.
The only thing that holds all of this together is the dollar and its status as the reserve currency.
Being 23 trillion dollar in debt with 2 back to back quarters of negative growth is no genius strategy. It's a Ponzi scheme held together by the dollar which is slowly being eroded too.
As more and more European banks move towards CIPS and India Russia China continue to trade on commodity using their own currencies a trend is being set for the eventual collapse of dollar.
Does this mean the Chinese can mess with the US.
No both the economics are too tightly interlinked at this point for any meaningful sanctions or war to take place.
The Chinese are not yet strong enough to take on the US and they know it.
Taiwan continues to shift away from China while the dollar inches towards the end. At this point both the sides are forcing the other side to make a mistake first in the hope that it would save them.