I don't think those signals of China getting ready for a conflict necessarily mean they are going to fight against the United States (at least not directly). I sounds more reasonable to me Xi is getting ready to start a military operation on Taiwan and recover the island for it to be completely under the control of the CCP.
Let us remember there is an important percentage of the Republican party who believes the USA is not supposed to police the world and Ukraine and Taiwan are for them to be left at their own luck when facing invasions. The CCP could be planning to take advantage of such situation during the government of Trump or someone within the Republican party who will refuse to be hostile against Russia and China.