Point of fact, the Japanese consistently dominated the the Chinese army when they invaded China in the 1930s. And the intention was to bring superior Asian cultural and technological benefits to the primitive races in the region... and were ultimately stopped by allied western forces who ultimately liberated China from Japanese occupation.
Unfortunately the current CCP expansionist doctrine sounds very similar to 1930s Japanese Imperialism.
The stated "peaceful rise of China" is belied by China's military build up and fortified island building in the South China Sea. What China says is the opposite of what the CCP does, and they routinely lie about everything.
Fact is also its difficult to conduct a successful sea invasion of a well prepared and fortified island even with a large force. Which doesn't bode well for China's intention to try and annex Taiwan, given they will likely have support from western defenders of democracy against communist expansionist aggression.
The West wouldn't have a problem if Taiwan voluntarily chose closer economic and political ties with China. But after they seen the way the CCP behaved with Hong Kong, Taiwanese people know the CCP can't be trusted and don't want any part of it. That's never going to happen now. The CCP under Xi have shot themselves in both feet.
