China's Path toward Asian Hegemony

In a recent talk show airing of the Rusty Humphrey's program, Tom Rhodes substituting, Rhodes made an important point about China's policies in Asia.  He contended that China's military might enables it to show the rest of Asia that it can indeed lead the nations of that continent.  Its vision is to establish what I call the "Asian Mind," a style and procedure of doing things distinctive in the world, its origin dating back thousands of years. ( I wrote a ruminations piece on this a few years back.)  Japan had taken on the same project, but its attempt led to WWII, Western Theater.  Japan did not succeed; but I believe it gave back the cudgel to its dominant neighbor to the north.