Sadly, the US needs conflict for multiple reasons and doesn't care about limiting casualties for any side other than the US (which wasn't the case until bodies of dead American soldiers showing up on the nightly news started making Americans ask why America was throwing away teenagers with no real goal in mind).
Without wars and threats of wars, the US has little ability to distract from domestic issues. Sometimes, other things do distract the public, but wars and threats of war are easier for the government to arrange and control the length of than another Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial.
Although more and more countries are catching on, the traditional "Support the US view of any situation or you're against truth, justice, democracy, motherhood, apple pie, the Ameri.. the International Rule of Law (as written by America, but sometimes not even ratified by the USA and ignored at convenience) and are in league with the obviously lawless and very naughty opponent we selected and may find yourself in need of some freedom bombs and a new government."
This has gotten SO old that even Mexico is staying neutral regarding the US proxy war in the Ukraine.
Then there what Eisenhower warned about. The US Military-Industrial complex doesn't make obscene profits if demand for their products falls. So, first, arrange a proxy war in the Ukraine. Convince more and more NATO countries to sell or donate their old equipment and ammo to the Ukrainians, but keep a firm grip on how fast this happens. If all of NATO didn't send anything, Ukraine would be 90% conquered by now. On the other hand, if all of NATO sent all their old toys at the same time, Russia would likely have decided that it had no choice but to wrap things up early. Instead, the US wants to drag it out as long as possible, both to get rid of as much old equipment and ammo as possible plus to be able to field test some newer items against Russia. The US is heading into a recession, but stocks of the big defense (aka war) manufacturers are doing quite well and the orders for replacement items have only begun getting approved. Wait and see what happens to those when the next fiscal year's military budget is approved.
But, wars the US finds convenient can't be counted in to last forever. In Vietnam, the American public turned against the war. The lack of a functional goal in Iraq and Afghanistan didn't exactly make those major rallying points once each initial invasion was complete. Since Trump needed a large enemy and found China to be more convenient than Russia (or maybe the rumors of Russia having some items to embarrass Trump is true), he flipped from liking China to hating it. Then he painted Biden as being pro-China, which put the democrats in the position of having to outdo the republicans on being anti-China. Neither Trump nor Biden care about any group inside of China or about HK or TW, except as ways to try to stir up anti-Chinese hatred. Now the US if falling over itself to be nice to Pacific island countries it previously abused or ignored for fear that Chinese aid might help those countries more than the US ever did and that the Chinese military might end up having a few places to dock some navy ships.
Unfortunately, the US has a bad habit of dragging in allies and leaving them holding the bag. Ask those the US supported in Syria how well things went when the US decided to disengage. Ask those in Afghanistan who helped Americans and barely escaped with their lives when the US decided to bail in the middle of the night.
If there's a war of the US vs China, the US will happily support it with the blood of as many Japanese and Australian soldiers as it takes. If launching attacks from those countries invites counterstrikes, the US will make deeply moving speeches about the heroism of dead Australian and Japanese soldiers. Every family of those non-America soldiers will be sent massive amounts of
thoughts and prayers and maybe even a medal (if the US Military can find a place to get new medals designed and manufactured while blocking all (

) trade between the US and China).
Or, Japan and Australia will notice that many NATO countries (including the US) keep finding convenient exceptions and exemptions from all the sanctions placed on Russia so they can buy what they need while pressuring other countries to boycott and sanction as much as possible. The US and NATO get a lot more things they need from China than they do from Russia. Being expendable cannon-fodder for the US to try to "contain" China isn't in anyone's best interests, except maybe the US - solely because they can't handle the concept of being anything short of #1 in all categories.
Imagine instead, the US cuts it's military budget by 20%, allowing China and most other nations to do the same. There's still more than enough military protect the US, Australia, Japan, China, etc., and no need to rattle sabres in each other's faces. Imagine what good each country could do with that much cash. Maybe the US could try to shock the world by balancing its budget again.