'somewhat'. The China-Vietnam war was more of a stalemate than the Chinese-proclaimed victory, and war between China and the Philippines would draw in the US, and guess who's going to win that naval battle. Neither side will use nukes over a naval dispute, and China in particular can't afford to get the West off-side, because it's the West that buys the lion's share of it's manufacturing - whereas the West has plenty of other places to look for manufacturing, albeit not at that scale.
