[casey2]

Number of countries invaded by China in the last 2000 years: 0

Obviously debatable, even then still limited to countries at the border.

What I definitely wouldn't trust are the western nation states that have been planting their flag across the globe for the last few hundred years. No matter the case they consistently view themselves as the moral superior of their enemies, whom they treat as pure evil and they aren't shy about forcing their morals on you. Whether it's prudish Victorian imperial England, or Fart sniffing San Franciscans they share the belief that they are the most enlightened and everyone else is dangerous.

China is still largely tributary, as long as you pay taxes you can do what you want, while the west is evangelical, you must adopt the same framework (moral, or technological e.g. rust) or you are a heretic.