Taiwan is the flashpoint for WW3. China doesn’t want to be the one to begin it in earnest.
Historians may look back and see Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the first step, and while there is validity there, World War 2 started as a conflict with Germany and European states. Until Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the war was mostly regional/continental at that point. Personally I see that as the true start of the true WORLD war.
So you see my point. Adding a nation like Taiwan and potentially Korea/China/US into this directly, it becomes a true world conflict.
China started COVID, which arguably was the first shot of WW3, and then they take Taiwan? The world historians will not look on China kindly. China cares about its image. They want to be provoked, and the U.S. needs to be distracted.