Such a narrative is problematic in that before asking whether the ideological framing is good tactics, one should understand that China does not pose the kind of threat the Soviet Union had posed, according to the scholar.

Citing judgements by seasoned politicians including former Australian diplomat Peter Varghese, White stressed that there is no evidence that Beijing seeks to remodel the world in its image.

China will strive to protect its own system from being undermined from without, but unlike those superpowers, the country "does not seem to believe that this requires the rest of the world to adopt its model," said White.