I understand you now. Sorry, it wasn't clear to me before. Looks like we're actually completely on the same page. I got completely twisted in the logic.
Ignoring ra1n85 (it seems the 3 of us are probably on the same page), my original question for you was how would you make China pay the bill. You say that the US could use this as leverage to force China to give up something else. I'm not confident that's great leverage by itself, but I just thought of something that may answer my own question.
IF China had the gall to plant a fake story, I would imagine it would be a sign of weakness. There's no reason to plant a fake story if their bargaining position is strong, so a fake story plant would be only the craziest of Hail Mary options, a poison pill that acknowledges, "hey, we're gonna lose, how can we cause the most damage we can before we go down completely?"
So if the US was able to confirm a fake story plant by China, they'd have more confidence in going full court press and getting everything they want because their bargaining position would just be that strong (discounting actual war).
I suppose discussing all the hypotheticals for what happens if China plants a fake story is getting out of hand and not worth all the typing....
Ignoring ra1n85 (it seems the 3 of us are probably on the same page), my original question for you was how would you make China pay the bill. You say that the US could use this as leverage to force China to give up something else. I'm not confident that's great leverage by itself, but I just thought of something that may answer my own question.
IF China had the gall to plant a fake story, I would imagine it would be a sign of weakness. There's no reason to plant a fake story if their bargaining position is strong, so a fake story plant would be only the craziest of Hail Mary options, a poison pill that acknowledges, "hey, we're gonna lose, how can we cause the most damage we can before we go down completely?"
So if the US was able to confirm a fake story plant by China, they'd have more confidence in going full court press and getting everything they want because their bargaining position would just be that strong (discounting actual war).
I suppose discussing all the hypotheticals for what happens if China plants a fake story is getting out of hand and not worth all the typing....