China has consistently tried to have a productive and cooperative relationship with the west. All the escalation consistently comes from western countries, and China is now increasingly starting to respond in kind.
China certainly isn’t some innocent victim here. Their crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong, more aggressive pursuit of their frankly absurd claims in SCS, their ambassador in France calling post-Soviet countries as not being sovereign - Chinese posture certainly escalated and most of these independently of their rivalry with US.
China has consistently tried to have a productive and cooperative relationship with the west. All the escalation consistently comes from western countries, and China is now increasingly starting to respond in kind.
China certainly isn’t some innocent victim here. Their crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong, more aggressive pursuit of their frankly absurd claims in SCS, their ambassador in France calling post-Soviet countries as not being sovereign - Chinese posture certainly escalated and most of these independently of their rivalry with US.