... doing what countries run by a dictator tend to do. I don't think we fully understand how much Xi Jinping has changed the PRC. The Chinese system was already autocratic, but Xi turned it into full-blown dictatorship. There are no balances to his power, there is no limit to his rule, there is no incentive for anyone in China to oppose anything he does or to develop alternative political lines. This situation requires an increasing amount of chest-thumping to justify itself.

> must be aware that one day, one of their client countries will rebel

A lot of these client countries are not even in Asia, and the Chinese have never been "expeditionary". Their force projection is typically limited to their close interests. The PRC leadership has traditionally played the long game, but justifying a dictatorship has costs that must be paid for; Xi needs to show gains in a much more overt way than his predecessors. That's basically what it is. From what I can see, their only major objective is still to get the South-East off American control, and that will be it.

> The question is what is the rest of the world going to do.

You're already seeing it: periodic waves of anti-Chinese action in civilian fields. Full-on cold-war seems fundamentally impossible in a world where most "Western" money effectively runs on items manufactured almost-exclusively in China - which is not just "a major industrial power", it's effectively unique in whole sectors and dominant in others. "We" will continue with the tit-for-tat and occasional offensive like on 5G.