Your vision of harmonious relationship between a powerful china and comparatively smaller Japan and Korea, or Philippines and SCS nations in all likelihood, seems to be predicated upon the assumption that these little people would naturally recognize that the best thing for them is to not exhibit the sort of 骨气 you might find praiseworthy in the Chinese when confronted by a superior power determined to make others bend to its will.
No, a
harmonious relationship is predicated on long-lasting compatible mutual interests.
Right now, SK and PH's interests are clearly aligned with China, though there are political obstacles. SK benefits tremendously from a friendly China, both economically and, if they were willing, militarily. PH *could* benefit tremendously from Chinese investments. Yes, the two nations have disagreements over SCS islands, but the current PH president has clearly calculated that the benefits of courting China clearly outweigh the benefits of antagonizing China over those islands.
Japan is, as it always has been, a different case. Though Japan eagerly learned from Tang, it has always been outside of direct Chinese influence, simply because of geography, and I see little reason or incentive for that to change. At the moment, the Japanese people seem content with subordination to the US, and aside from a trading relation, has little mutual interest with China.
Japan is well aware of its value to the US, and so long as the US maintains a presence in East Asia, this will not change.
