What China did wasn't much different than what the US has been doing all these years, playing hard ball against rivals and enemies that refuse to toe the line. They just not yet get used to it, but they will, soon, they have to, coz if they expect China to be more "reasonable" like in the past, they can wait until pigs grow wings.

The geopolitical situation is vastly different than in the past. The US has decided to confront China aggressively, you can't reason with the US like in the past, being meek will make you a punching bag. Those US allies or more accurately vassals, coz allies will remind the US that it has cross the line vis a vis China but vassals will stay quiet, will need to stay away, or risk getting caught up and be a collateral damage. Those who fail to understand this, like Australia and Canada deserved to be kicked in the arse.

China can't play aloof like in the past, sometimes you need to get dirty. The whole Asia is watching, they want to see whether crossing China has price or not. Playing nice now won't benefit China. Remember when China still playing nice, and only sent protests whenever the west invited dalai lama to visit their countries? When China started to playing rough with them, they complained a lot, but soon dalai lama hardly been invited anymore. Playing rough works, when the time is right. Playing nice served China well when China was still developing. But now that China is fighting for number one position, it can't play nice anymore, because your opponent won't let you.