I have to disagree here. Respect is neither given nor earned, it is beaten - as in China must beat respect into America's head until America sings it like Aretha Franklin,
R-E-S-P-E-C-T!
China, that's what you mean to me!
That should be one of the unstated goals of China's national rejuvenation.
Basic respect or basic common decency should be a given in any relationship be it romantic , business or otherwise. If anyone were to treat me disrespectful on the idea that respect has to be earned first, I would remove that person, group,etc. from my life ASAP. Been there, done that, never again. A former family member had the brilliant idea to tell me that respect is earned not given, while telling me that I was being a coward and talking out of my rear-end for wanting time to decompress before making contact with another family member i had not seen in 10+ years. Now that brilliant person that insisted on giving me this "advice" is a former family member that I have removed from my life.
Do not forget to respect yourself first and foremost, do not take abuse lying down but also treat others like you want to be treated. Sadly, Some people , including my former family member, seemed to have had a hard time grasping this concept.
Anyway, China is no angel but the amount of vitriolic propaganda i have seen being spewed out in many Anglo-American / Anglo-Saxon propaganda outlets is really disturbing and often totally out of touch with reality. No sense of self-reflection or accountability what-so-ever. These "journalists" are supposed to be "adults". What ever happened ?