A saying in Chinese 军事配合政治.
Means Military in support or in contingent with politics.
War would happen, not for a fired shot, but for a political inevitability.
War being part of politics, that's a win, but if politics happened because of war, then that's stupid and a fail. TO ALL VIETNAM MEMBERS, this is why we don't attack you guys, it would be a stupid move, because the pace would have been dictated by a far inferior enemy. We go to war, when the political conditions are right, not for the sake of it.
China will not go to war if US is all in, but like all things, nothing is for certain. People in Beijing has been working hard on making this a reality, and I believe it will happen. But a lot of things are still unclear, so, we can't know for sure, how everything will pan out.
However, the economic and political war has already began, to the winner goes all the spoils, and to the winner, one of the prize is the chance to go to war to claim or retain the heavyweight championship of the world.