The fascists needed neither proper judgements nor rational justifications to wage war against peer powers in the Second World War.
As long as the nuclear button isn't carried onto the table, what makes you think they won't attempt similar misadventures against a (near-)peer power like China? Besides, China isn't known to be the ones who would swing their nuclear stick up in the air like Russia, North Korea and India do. Meanwhile, it is directly legit in the US military playbook to employ tactical nuclear warheads during wartime, and they do not have No-First-Use policy.
All the series of actions taken by the capitals of Western powers against China right now has clearly indicated that they would rather 杀敌一千，自损八百 (kill 1000 of the enemy, lose 800 of yourself) than accept China's rejuvenation to become a peer superpower. This is in direct contrast to Beijing's way of seeking win-win cooperation with everyone across the world.
Even if the end result turns out to be the West losing 1000 and China loosing 800, that doesn't matter as long as China's rejuvenation is stunted, and the global hegemonic stranglehold by the West is maintained. See the difference?
Regardless of how supposedly beautiful and menacing the US plan(s) are the ENEMY (China) gets a vote/say always.
The only thing you have to ask is are they truly and really prepared for what's to come? The answer to that is a f.. Hell No. The Ukraine war, and the preceding wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Serbia etc.. have convinced me that the west and their supposed commitment is a JOKE.
The China of today isn't the China of the just recently created and established PRC under Mao. The China of today is many times more powerful, sophisticated and technologically advanced. Most of all these people are highly disciplined, motivated to avoid any repeat of the 100 years of humiliation. Chinese people know their history and have long memories.
All I can confidently say is to underestimate China is to bring calamity to the west and the world. Taiwan is non-negotiable period.
I just think that the US is acting in dangerous, half-insane desperation at this point in time. The US, under the senile Joe Biden administration had delivered on almost all of its major threats so far. They had threatened to: impose the ultimate sanctions on Russia, blow up the Nord-Stream pipelines, send heavy military equipment to Ukraine, send Pelosi to Taiwan, and shoot-down a Chinese balloon.
Biden at this point had not yet threatened to go directly to war with Russia. But Biden had threatened to defend Taiwan against China. What exactly does he mean by that, we don't know for sure. But the Chinese top brass should not take any chances. Exercise, and be ready for war with the US. We don't know how stupid the the US can get, especially the Republican stupids, who have successfully pushed Biden into doing reckless anti-China stuff. The moment China see some new developments in US military deployments around it's neighborhood, it should start to go into a semi-wartime economy, like Russia in recent times. Time to stockpile on materiel, manpower, ammunition, and emergency stuff. China can mobilize for war much faster than any 'democratic nation'. But it's better to be safe than sorry. The US can no longer be trusted to be rational these days.
Remember that there were multiple papers in the US, dating back to 2016, setting the date for war with China by 2025. 2025 is that magic year for war that the US is telling everyone. Remember a recent memo written by USAF general, Mike Minihan, calling for war with China by 2025, and saying that the US should 'aim for the head'. Was that a call for nuclear first strike? We don't know for sure. What we do know is that the US is not making the same type of threats against Russia. I think because Russia has a declared nuclear arsenal powerful enough for the US to rule out any nuclear first strike. What China needs to do very soon, is to deal with this perception by the US that it can win a nuclear war with China. There are big progress on the hardware front, but China needs an official declaration to the US. Tell them that China's nuclear arsenal has been updated, and it's not trivial. No need to give numbers, but tell them that it is big enough to end the whole of the USA. And if the US tries any decapitation strike, China can still respond with a devastating second strike. China does not have a history of bluffing, so the US will have to take this threat seriously.
Is it better for China to not get into an arms race? Absolutely. But the arms race of the previous Cold War was more about power and dominance by both superpowers. For China, this current arms race is about survival, not domination. There can be no greater justification for an arms race than that.
