I'm wondering what's holding them back. There would be very little appetite left in America for another war - Trump has used all that capital up - plus laid down a precedent for first-strike invasions ...

Only thing i can think of is China's air defense systems sold to Iran were proven to be not up to snuff, hence the military purge by Xi?

On the other hand, CCP taking control of global chip manufacturing may be enough to force US to defend Taiwan. It could, by the same logic Palantir expounds, be a war they can't afford to lose.