What China might have historically believed in and wanted to do (at least in one strain of ancient thought) could differ from what it had been capable of till now.
And they did SOME conquering successfully, or we’d never have heard of Sun-Tzu.
“And they did SOME conquering successfully, or wed never have heard of Sun-Tzu”
No.
That was all just inter-Han conflicts within a fairly small geographic area of East China.
China expansion, to the degree it expanded, was due to being taken over by outside forces.