Internal secession movements take priority for the Chinese government.

[Percy, “Why China is not planning to conquer other nations” John Menadue’s Public Policy Journal, Sep. 30, 2023, https://johnmenadue.com/why-china-is-not-planning-to-conquer-other-nations-part-2/ Accessed 7.19.24 GDI-HB]

China’s obsession is secession

The Chinese government’s biggest security concern is internal secession movements. Dissidents in Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia are not pining for democracy, but independence. China’s response like that of India (Kashmir and Punjab), Sri-Lanka (Tamils), Indonesia (West Papua), Philippines (Mindanao) and Myanmar (Mon state) is military suppression, detention and “re-education” of separatists and their sympathisers.

China wants its ethnic and religious minorities to assimilate with the Han majority rather than promote their distinct cultural identity. That’s offensive to Australia (given its indigenous history) but China considers it more inclusive than that of neighbouring countries which have at various times sought to exclude, expel, or extinguish their minorities (e.g., India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Indonesia).

In Hong Kong the draconian National Security Law was imposed after militants in the democratic movement (including former members of the banned Hong Kong National Party) resorted to violence, stormed the local legislature, and upped their demands from local autonomy to independence from the mainland. Paranoia about splintering internally is a reason China does not want to get distracted by a military conflict with the American alliance.