It's true that this claim could be applied to almost any group of people, but I think the point here is the people in the US (or the west generally) don't have

It's true that this claim could be applied to almost any group of people, but I think the point here is the people in the US (or the west generally) don't have the history knowledge hence the empathy about how important and sensitive territorial integrity of China is to both Chinese people and Chinese government.