The problem is that American interests have extended beyond the limits of the American borders for too long - China exercising its rights to protect its own interests outside its borders is a response to that, which automatically triggers American hubris: "nobody, but the 'greatest nation on Earth', should have the right to say its interests extend beyond its borders" .. this is the point of American hegemony in the world. If America doesn't do it, someone else will - so eventually, America becomes the very threat it was resisting all along: a totalitarian state which uses its military might to usurp the interests of other nations, at any and all cost.