@rheber Strictly speaking you don't, I get that. But I want one because:
1. The commit which adds an empty `package.json` should also add a lockfile for symmetry, to make sure it isn't forgotten later, and to keep everything to a single commit.
2. Some tools expect or require a lockfile to function. In this case, #Bazel is very strict that a lockfile must exist to do anything, even if it's empty.