Why? Why do westerners fear a rising China? Lets look at the reasons:
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Their history with communism, and enduring love of authoritarianism
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Systemic Human rights violations, not only in the conquered territories, but between the political north and the entrepreneurial south.
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Endemic Corruption at all levels of society and perpetual intransigence
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Pervasive intellectual property theft, and institutional kleptocracy
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Rapidly expanding military capability and posture despite their geographic isolation
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The threat of exporting their authoritarianism, corruption, and human rights abuses.
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Their willingness to use economic warfare in commodities like specialty metals and rare earths.
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Their threats of using our debt as a weapon of economic warfare.
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The notorious chip on their collective shoulders at the evident failure of their social order in the face of the post-agrarian era, when competing with younger more dynamic civilizations.
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Support for authoritarian regimes, and consistent blocking of western political initiatives a the UN.
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The obvious translation of ‘the middle kingdom’ as ‘the center of the universe’.
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Their obvious and consistent racism.
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Their state supported cyber attacks on our internet, our public and private sector.
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Their systemic use of spies to steal our technology in computer, and both naval and missile technology.
If we acted like the Chinese, the Supreme Court would still be populated by protestants, blacks wouldn’t have the vote, the 60’s would have concluded with a lot of dead college students, and we would call the muslims our ‘friends’ and occupy their territory, and convert them to christianity, english, and say that their oil is ours, rather than demand that they act responsibly as market participants.
So, is our fear based upon racism? It’s not racism. It’s just experience with China.
China as it currently functions is a threat to our 500 year effort to drag humanity out of agrarian ignorance and subsistence poverty. What evidence do we have that the magic traits of Competition, Consumerism, Individualism, Fraternal Enfranchisement, and Rule of Law are adopted along with our technology? Our century and a half of class warfare has made us apologetic for our successes, exaggerating of our failures, and without appreciating the uniqueness and benefit we have given to humanity.