A point of detail: No western powers were involved in the villain's plot, which was orchestrated between General Chang of the PLA and Elliot Carver of the Carver Media Group. Chang and Carver intended to forment war between China and the UK, culminating in the decapitation of China's leadership via what would appear to be a British missile strike. Chang would then assume control and secure his position by successfully defusing the conflict that he and Carver had orchestrated, while Carver would be rewarded for his role with exclusive broadcast and other media rights within China.
I thought Tomorrow Never Dies was ahead of its time (1997) in noting and dramatizing the power of the media to shape reality. The film clearly reflected Britain's anxiety about its position in the world in the context of China's rise, particularly the impending return of Hong Kong to Chinese control, but it does not suggest that Britain's forces are superior to China's, nor does it portray China as the enemy. Michelle Yeoh's character, Wai Lin of the "Chinese People's External Security Force", is probably the closest the 007 franchise has ever come to depicting a female character as Bond's equal, as they work together to foil the villain's scheme.
Tomorrow Never Dies is also notable for its depiction of GPS technology and also Carver's stealth ship, which was clearly inspired by the US Navy's Sea Shadow project made public just a few years earlier. Germany is a secondary location for the film, which reflects the commercial and cultural buoyancy that nation enjoyed in the years following reunification. The prominence of BMW cars and motorcycles in the Brosnan-era films is related both to that and BMW's strengthening presence in the British market, punctuated by its acquisition of British brands Mini and Rolls-Royce in the same period.
(All films can be mined for meaning, but the 007 franchise is particularly rewarding in this regard owing to its unusually consistent formula and unusual length (1962-2021). Starting from the basic formula of James Bond as a vehicle for exploring a particularly British masculine ideal, as an agent and expression of a formerly powerful nation that must now find its way in the presence of greater powers, one can track the evolution over time of the franchise's villains, cars, gadgets, settings, music, cinematography, women, even the depiction of Bond himself.)
