Given today's low cargo crew counts, it isn't crazy to think about the calculus of sinking cargo ships vs fighting an actual war, in order to prove ones seriousness.
If the nations involved want it to be one, sure. There have been incidents of militaries shooting down passenger jets, which were all but swept under the rug.
@throwawaymaths basically answered the question how I would. Also, just to clarify my use of "swept under the rug", my implication is that when it's not politically convenient for the parties to make a big deal out of an incident, they simply choose not to use it as a media prop to push their agenda.
There's a list here that would be a reasonable starting point for any further digging you might wish to do:
Korean air lines flight over Russia, us shooting down Iranian jet in the gulf, Russia shooting down Malaysian air over Ukraine, Iran shooting down a Ukrainian jet over itself.
I presume gp means Not swept under the rug in terms of information suppression, swept under the rug in terms of very little diplomatic fallout
Say, because Taiwan was being invaded?
And in the form of a blockade, of course.