> provocation Quite possibly. Minor provocations that by themselves are too inconsequential to warrant a response, nothing to start a war over, but incrementa

> provocation Quite possibly. Minor provocations that by themselves are too inconsequential to warrant a response, nothing to start a war over, but incrementally provokes the target into lashing out in some way that is advantageous for China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_salami_slicing_strategy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_salami_slicing_strateg... (Other countries do it too, of course..)