I don't think that the Chinese are that aggressive towards the US.
They would have many better approaches available, and there's little to no evidence that they're using them:

# covertly lobby in the U.S. congress for additional expenses (not for public infrastructure investments or DoD, of course)
# push the U.S. into another war like Iraq
# attempt to break up U.S.-Japanese cooperation to the point that Marines withdraw from Okinawa
# attempt to have the U.S. give up Taiwan (which is after all quite irrelevant unless you really, really want to have a good Taiwanese graphics card in your PC)
# increase Chinese cultural influence and perception in the U.S. to a point where Taiwan and Tibet become invisible

So far the F-22 export ban and end of production, small wars focus, low U.S. savings rate and overemphasis of private consumption, budget-breaking tax cuts, Iraq War and Taiwanese economic integration with Chinese mainland seem to be the only major actions that play into the PRC's hand.
All of them can be explained without PRC influence in the shadows.