Do you see the West talk how "we all" get hurt? The Chinese seems to think expressing how weak or how hurt you are is suppose to garner sympathy and those doing the harm are suppose to stop. The only thing the West sees when Chinese do that is what they're doing is working and you think they'll stop? That's also naive to think that they care. I mentioned before about Huawei founder, Ren Zhengfei, when the US was attacking and sanctioning his company, he would publicly cry how US actions were hurting his company pleading for the US to stop. Today Huawei is making more money than ever without the US and Western countries and their allies as customers.
I have to think it's cultural for Chinese to think looking weak is better than looking strong. It's the wrong logic. It only encourages actions against China. Because Chinese do nothing when wronged, it makes Western hawks think they can win against China like how we're seeing now how Americans are entertaining that they can win militarily over China.
There was an American author who writes about the US military. He wrote a book where he romances the American soldier saying they're warriors who strive on adversity. If that's true why is the US military always whining about China's growing military developments and capabilities? Loving adversity means loving going against the odds. The US wants to make their enemies weak so Americans know they will win... Quite the opposite and nothing romantic about it. Contrary to how some Chinese think, looking strong makes them think twice.