Well first, match context, there's neighbouring countries and regional countries. Countries neighbouring PRC, i.e. land connected are just as friendly towards P

Well first, match context, there's neighbouring countries and regional countries. Countries neighbouring PRC, i.e. land connected are just as friendly towards PRC, and by friendly I mean relatively geopolitically aligned because PRC settled borders with 12/14 of them (India/Bhutan hold out) and they know they're too close to PRC to step out of line. This is similar to US, except US who only has 2 land neighbours, CA/MX, both of whom she knocked the shit out historically into compliance. The you have regional countries, expecially once limited to maritime access, they hedge, just like South America is now hedging PRC against previously almost uncontested US influence. The broader answer is because PRC hasn't (had chance to) done what the US did, kick the shit out of their neighbours or exploit shit kicked countries near their adversaries and coerced geopolitical compliance that over generations becomes ingrained on a cultural level. PH/JP/SKR/TW are structurally coupled to US post WW2, and all had very strong anti-US sentiment across society and politics earlier on in their existence, but lacked power to kick US out and generations of US influence and increased dependence in more than just economics now makes them bias compliance towards US interests. Canada good example, used by British to wage existential war on US, and US seriously considered annexing Canada until British was comprehensively defeated and Canada stopped becoming geopolitical threat. Even then Canadian domestic politics was antiUS project until well into the 70s, meanwhile anytime Canadian leadership tried to depart from US strategic interests, it gets reigned in. Ditto with Mexico, and rest of Americas via Monroe Doctrine. The TLDR is US empire wasn't built on friendship, it was built on opportunistically ruining / exploiting ruined countries and turning them into vassels structurally to be friendly, until over generations, people start drinking the koolaid and the cause becomes reversed. Alternatively, like in South America, beatings will continue until geopolitical compliance improves. Money and influence ops is rarely enough to dislodge such alignment. Which raises the unpleasant implication that countries around PRC won't be friendly until PRC successfully asserts regional hegemony and it can't convincingly do that without basically kicking US out of east Asia forcefully. Sometimes the only way to win over geopolitical "friendships" is by kicking the old friend out and demonstrating implications of trying to remain unfriendly.