"On the day Trump was inaugurated, China’s military warned that war between the two countries was a real possibility."
The tone of the article and the quotes make this sound like this is a new scenario. It isn't. It stretches before Threat Vector (Tom Clancy novel) [0], before the 90's pull out by USN in the Phillipines. [1] There is a long history of rivalry in this region where cultures bump into each other. [2]
Reference
[0] http://www.tomclancy.com/book_display.php?isbn13=97804252623...
[1] https://www.sofmag.com/the-south-china-sea-standoff/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracel_Islands#Historical_per...