First off, China is rapidly growing in both it’s economy and it’s military. Their Air Force is the largest in the world in terms of aircraft, and not entirely in disrepair.
If the Chineese were going to instigate war, the first thing they would do is find a way to knock out our few Pacific carriers. See book Debt of Honor by Tom Clancy.
You beat China entirely by Air, without using Nuclear weapons, and I’ll crown you King.
Tawain will be easily cut off from foreign help, its a small island. The Chineese Navy will promptly destroy the Tawainneese navy, though I don’t doubt there will be a large body count for the Chineese. Being a small island, it will be easy to bomb out all air force installations. Then its just a matter of attrition.
We did not win in Afganistan entirely by Air. We won by the North and Eastern alliances doing a massive ground operation, assisted by our bombs.