I doubt anybody will be driving tanks to the disputed islands. This is an air and naval battle. For all the hoopla about China they still lag behind technologically. China has a history of pulling stunts in an effort to get respect, but they are only stunts. The media jumps all over it.

For example the Chinese sub that turned up right in the middle of a carrier group. The media went wild. "How did they get a sub that close to a carrier?" "What does this mean?"

It means that it was a peace time event when the US navy wasn't filling the sea with sona buoys and when the good (whale maddening) sonars weren't being used. The Chinese got in front of the carrier group and sat there silent until they could surface right in the middle of the US ships. A BS stunt that wouldn't work nearly so easily in war time because anti-sub operations would be in full swing.

China has a few good destroyers, but the vast majority of their fleet is sub-standard by any Western standards and Russian standards, too.

Their airforce is a little better off than their navy. They actually have a couple of airframes that are very competitive. Their numbers are small however, and a bad day against Japanese top notch air defenses could easily cut their numbers in half.