Actually, I agree with much of what those articles are saying. Consider these factors:
1) China was, for much of its history, a dominant world power.
2) China was subsequently humiliated by western powers, with tremendous abuses heaped on it.
3) After achieving 'independence' from the rest of the world, under the Communists, China went into a 40-year hibernation period, marked by little advancement, and isolation from the rest of the world.
4) It emerged from that into a period of rapid growth that has seen it restored in many ways to the 'glories' of the past...a dominant world power, economically, militarily, etc.
Its not surprising that modern Chinese tend to have strong nationalist tendencies. I suspect the same thing would occur in any country facing similar circumstances. So its not so much an issue of the gov't creating nationalist sentiment, as it is of the gov't capitalizing on that pre-existing sentiment to help them maintain their hold on power.
Perhaps we have a different interpretation of what is meant by "militant nationalism". To me, that goes beyond nationalist sentiment, to a desire to push those sentiments on other nations, and/or bring other nations under their scope of control. It means a determination to maintain (or spread) such sentiment by force of arms.
And that's just not something that I see in China; nor do I see the authors of those articles making such a claim.
The Chinese gov't definitely uses nationalist sentiment to help maintain its position. There's no better way to defuse internal dissatisfaction than to create an external 'enemy' that the people can unite against.
Allow me to point out, however, that the Republicans in the U.S. tend to use the very same tactic. Anything related to Christian ideals is automatically tied to "what America is about" or "America's roots". In fact, it is shocking to me how often the tactics of the American right-wing are so terribly similar to those used in China...yet few people seem to comment on it. One of the worst examples of this was under Bush, when they started a national campaign to actively recruit normal citizens to spy on each other, and report 'suspicious behavior' to the authorities. This is something that even the Chinese abandoned some 20 years ago. And it was fueled by capitalizing on 'nationalist sentiment'.
However, outside of a very vocal minority (and, like most extremists, they can be very vocal), the vast majority of Chinese very highly prize peace, and in particular, want to see their country become dominant by integrating with the rest of the world, not by conquering it, or making everyone like them. It is interesting to me that American international policy tends to be dominated by a sentiment that "we should make everyone like us", whereas China's international policy tends to be more "you do what is best for you, and we'll do what is best for us". This is one of the main reasons why China is so much more successful in building relations with third-world countries...because they don't impose a political agenda on their interactions. Their focus is pretty much entirely financial.
To me, "militant nationalism" is something like what the Japanese had during WW II...a nationalism that convinces the people that their nation is so superior, that it is their right or their destiny to expand their system to other nations. It is dangerous because it is not focused just internally, but also externally.
Chinese nationalism is mostly internal. There's phenomenal pride in what they've accomplished. There's very strong resistance to any perceived efforts by outsiders to control or change them. There's certainly a very cohesive sense of "being Chinese", that unifies them (and therefore can be used by the gov't).
My concern is where outsiders attempt to present this as a 'threat' to the rest of the world. And its where my own analysis branches off from that of many others. Again, look at American economic, political, and military policy, and how often it is used actively to 'export' American values and systems to other nations. Then look at China. The difference in this regard is huge. The Chinese definitely want people to learn about and understand their culture...but there's no expectation that other countries should become like them, or adopt their values.
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