Taiwan is the propaganda target, but their creeping occupation of the South China Sea shows what the larger overall objective is. PRC leadership (i.e. Xi and friends) really see their future as the sole owners of South-East Asia; Taiwan will “naturally” come as part of that.

The problem is that three decades of US adventurism in the Middle East have left “us” without the moral high ground to oppose them.

But the US isn't trying to become the sole owners of the Middle East.