So we just ignore the years of NATO surrounding Russia and carrying out "training exercises" on the borders?
There's this weird double standard thing where people in the West act like they can do what they want, and then flip when someone else outside of the "in" group does the same thing.
Countries like Australia and the US act is if they're the fair enforcers for the world, when in reality, they just want to defend the status quo that benefits them. They act as if they have a god given right to occupy their positions on the world stage when in reality they played far dirtier than China to get where they are.
And if you're say Russia, even virtually surrounded by NATO, they're constantly being accused of being expanionalist. And the same with China.
So I think it's totally OK to bring up history, because if we look at China's rise compared with the rise of Western countries, we see that China's path to supremacy has been far more peaceful.
"BUT BUT they had missiles pointed at the US." Yes well that was over 50 years ago and Cuba isn't Nazi Germany.