So OF is your assertion the the CCP is just completely misunderstood by the West and that Xi Jiping really just wants to make China a peaceful trading nation? Are you suggesting that the Chinese have a legitimate claim to the 9 dash line in the SCS and that invading and subjugating the Taiwanese by force is also legitimate? Is their treatment of the Uighurs and democracy advocates in HK acceptable in your opinion because the CCP have every right to commit genocide in the name of communist thought? America isn't perfect and they made a big effort to stay out of world affairs in the 30's but Western democracies couldn't do without their industrial and manpower capabilities. If only the Communists were content to keep their ideology within their own borders and not have a doctrine of making every country Communist then there would have been a much more peaceful period of time post WW2.
The CCP want to defeat the West and rub their noses in what the CCP call the Century of Humiliation. All the West is doing by rearming and Australia getting nuclear powered subs is making a statement that it is not going to happen without a fight. Xi Jiping made his intentions very clear when he got rid of the 5 year term for CCP Chairman and made himself leader for life. If you want to look at the timeline of deteriorating relations with China then that is a good place to start.