It is in the Western collective conciousness.   If you want to prevent things from happening, you must not set precedence.  There is a reason why everytime there is a situation , the West nip it in the butt right away to avoid setting a precedent. China by not nipping it in the butt right away gave the impression that either China is weak or does not care.

China needs new blood with expertise in diplomacy and able to project soft power.  To navigate through this times with a waning Anglosphere that has been in power for more than two centuries and controlled pretty much the whole world, needs more than just hardline proclamations, ultimatums and hardpower projections.  It needs to project soft power, be one of the cool kid in the group, be a leader for the world.  As f88cked up as India is with sub-Saharan level poverty, massive real human right violations, and pretty much nothing to show for, one thing it has is the ability to project soft power.  It is exactly that India has and nothing else.