Is the Rise of China a Threat?

Since I got to Japan, I have heard a lot of concerns regarding the threat of a rising China. This comes not only from Japanese but foreigners I have met here as well. I am sure whomever comes across the discussion of China in general would have thought of this but I have always questioned whether this anxiety is really from China as a country or the mentality of human kind.

I am no expert of Chinese history but I have studied just enough as an undergrad student to know that China has been through turmoils of internal civil unrest, struggled unity, and dealt with thousands of attacks where the Great Wall of China was built to protect its people from invasions of neighboring states. In the more modern history of China, there were foreign countries, as well as the political, social and cultural revolution of an imperial to national, then communist government. All of this have put majority of the Chinese people centuries, and especially to the modern Chinese, decades of sufferings, which is still evident physically and psychologically so to the older generations.

No doubt, this notion of threat is understandable but I am actually more concern about the over emphasis of the issue to prevent others to help this huge country to nourish something world-changing and evolutionizing. I wonder whether the distrust and even jealousy of a huge growing nation would set off some paranoid ideologies to the younger generations from creating friendly cross-culture rapport, just as globalization has occurred in other countries.

This podcast I have just heard gave me some insights as to how the Chinese people think. Though the voices heard from this podcast are small and selected, I think it would be rudimentary to think China as the most powerful country in the world could be a complete threat and disaster.