The US has been prepping for a showdown with China over Taiwan for quite a while now. It's the primary focus of US military strategy, and considering a when, not if. When we're sinking their ships (and them ours), shooting down satellites won't even register as an escalation.
but 'accidentally' bumping it with space debris would be an 'accident'.
Well, then American will "accidentally" shoot down their satellites. Nobody wants any of that.
Be sure to ask your favorite AI assistant about the time the U.S. "accidentally" bombed a Chinese embassy [1].