True, but there were 40 years between that focus and their attempts at empire in WWII, while China is still very much still in “hold it all together” mode. Even though Japan has an impressively chaotic internal political history, it’s always been a small nation. China has always been huge, with lots of land routes and connections to other potential invaders. While superficially similar, I think that the Chinese commitment to unity Uber Alle is unlikely to change the way Japan’s did.