It could backfire in a way that ends American actions like the one the Chinese have pulled there ballistic missled arm chair up to watch the action more closely. The recent embarasment of european tech by chinese tech in pakistan india scuffle, is a hint at what are otherwise unknown Chinese missle capabilities, ie the two OTHER ships in the flotilla, there will of course be many oilers , tenders, and whatnot joining up, complicating things further. Plus given that China got this hardware on site in 10 days, is a message all it's own.