China is too benevolent. The more China try to be benevolent, the more disrespect they get. Just look at the Song dynasty. Tried to act like Big Brother to Jin and Liao and what did they receive beside all the bullying? In international politics, respect is based on only one thing: Fear.
It’s not about benevolence or respect or any other soft power nonsense, the fundamental determining factors for how other countries and peoples treat you is based on your hard power and willingness to use it.
Chinese dynasties have overwhelmingly taken the benevolent adult power approach when dealing the neighbouring ‘barbarian’ powers. When China was strong, any such minnow powers that were not smart enough to play nice and reciprocate Chinese friendliness and peaceful intent were deleted by Chinese military hard power. The late Song were not exceptions because of their benevolence, and that benevolence was not the reason they got wrecked by the Jin and Liao, they were the exceptions because they allowed Chinese hard power to deteriorate to the point that it could not defend itself against the invading barbarians.
Modern China is in many ways returning China to its historical position in terms of hard power and how it used that power.
Unlike the Americans who pissed away it’s own hard power with endless foreign military misadventures and internal corruption and decay in science and technology; modern China prefers to build its own hard power via peaceful development and applies extreme discipline and restraint on itself to minimise its own foreign wars to best build and preserve its own hard power.
Due to racism, wilful ignorance and general inertia, the world at large is still vastly underestimating Chinese hard power, and will likely continue to do so until China fights its own Desert Storm and show the world beyond all possible doubt just how powerful Chinese hard power is now.