The point is never let the frog know that the water is heating up to the level of incapacitating it.
I see this recent US move as a strategic one to take the extra air that was culminated over time inside some VN-JP-PH right wingers/nationalists. Sort of a safe-valve.
As a great power of commitments and hard alliances, the US has to do that from time to time.
But, when it comes to real action, the US often falls short of actual delivery in the face of a great power/near equal.
The best historical case is what has been going on in Syria. I am not even bringing up the Ukraine, Iranian nuclear or DPRK issues.