India, June 28 -- Xi's nuclear buildup demonstrates that Beijing views hegemony as necessary for survival and influence.

In November 1998, Jiang Zemin stood before students at Waseda University in Tokyo and declared: "Even if China develops, it will never bully other countries. It will never seek hegemony forever!"

The words were meant to reassure Japan and the wider world that China's rise would be peaceful, cooperative, and non-threatening. Today, under Xi Jinping, that pledge rings hollow. Beijing's rapid nuclear armament and assertive military posture reveal a China that has abandoned Jiang's vision of restraint in favour of coercive power projection.

Jiang's Era: The Rhetoric of Peaceful Rise

Diplomatic reassurance: Jiang's state...