https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/03/c...hnk/index.html
To me it looks as if China not only takes war into account, but actively wants it. They throw out a net of tripwires that make it more and more impossible to avoid them. Maybe they already made the active decision in favour for war and just maneuver a bit more in a bid for history afterwards not calling them out as the ones who have started it - or in a bid to rally their people around their war plan.
But when you
provoke it, then you nevertheless have started it.