"it's not an overreaction to say that the CCP has been undermining other countries for decades to gain the upperhand"
That is most certainly an overreaction. One based on projecting the current situation backwards in time. China has been engaging in foreign intervention to widen its influence for, at most, 10 years. 20 years ago, China's GDP was 12% that of the US (hell, Japan's GDP was 4x larger than China then). 30 years ago, it's GDP was just 6% that of the US. China was simply too damn poor to have much global influence. Even today, China's per capita GDP is on par with Mexico, not any developed nation -- it's just a lot lot bigger.
More to the point, its various infrastructure/resource extraction projects are still quite minor in comparison to the existing US/European ones. China has a handful of military/pseudo-military bases outside its borders. The US has bases in dozens of nations.
From a western governmental perspective, the general "problem" with spreading Chinese influence in developing nations is simply that they are not part of the western (read US) hegemony. This is something the modern era has never seen before. Over 100 hundred years of western nations/cultures being without rival is nearing its end and this scares many people in the west. Which is fair enough, the power/influence game is zero-sum, after all.
From western ethical perspective, the problem is that China tends to not give a damn what the governments they ally with do. They seem to have specific goals and outside of those, they don't care. For good or for ill. This strikes some people in the west as unethical. Many westerners seem to feel that other people's would be better off if they adopt western morality. But at the same time, other westerners feel that the west should leave other nations alone -- except when the Chinese behave that way, of course.
All that said, projecting your feelings forward may be more appropriate, IMO. The rivalry between the US (aka "the west") is only going to increase as the Chinese economy (and thus foreign influence) grows. This is mostly based, IMO, on US insecurity about losing its dominant position. But, currently, and for the next decade or two, the US still overshadows China by a huge margin.
That is most certainly an overreaction. One based on projecting the current situation backwards in time. China has been engaging in foreign intervention to widen its influence for, at most, 10 years. 20 years ago, China's GDP was 12% that of the US (hell, Japan's GDP was 4x larger than China then). 30 years ago, it's GDP was just 6% that of the US. China was simply too damn poor to have much global influence. Even today, China's per capita GDP is on par with Mexico, not any developed nation -- it's just a lot lot bigger.
More to the point, its various infrastructure/resource extraction projects are still quite minor in comparison to the existing US/European ones. China has a handful of military/pseudo-military bases outside its borders. The US has bases in dozens of nations.
From a western governmental perspective, the general "problem" with spreading Chinese influence in developing nations is simply that they are not part of the western (read US) hegemony. This is something the modern era has never seen before. Over 100 hundred years of western nations/cultures being without rival is nearing its end and this scares many people in the west. Which is fair enough, the power/influence game is zero-sum, after all.
From western ethical perspective, the problem is that China tends to not give a damn what the governments they ally with do. They seem to have specific goals and outside of those, they don't care. For good or for ill. This strikes some people in the west as unethical. Many westerners seem to feel that other people's would be better off if they adopt western morality. But at the same time, other westerners feel that the west should leave other nations alone -- except when the Chinese behave that way, of course.
All that said, projecting your feelings forward may be more appropriate, IMO. The rivalry between the US (aka "the west") is only going to increase as the Chinese economy (and thus foreign influence) grows. This is mostly based, IMO, on US insecurity about losing its dominant position. But, currently, and for the next decade or two, the US still overshadows China by a huge margin.