'they have any imperial ambitions to spread China’s borders—they’re not going to act like Nazi Germany or America in the 20th century—but they do want respect and they do want influence and they don’t trust America or Europe to run the world in the right way, in terms of issues like global warming or equality or economic stability.'
Mainly control or leverage over people. It's quite easy to create your own order out of chaos if you're the one who is providing the chaotic events. The British Empire conquered the East a long time ago.