When China was weak, the Western powers were busy slicing up its territory for themselves. Now that China has awakened it will reclaim all those lost territories. The Philippines can't do jack shit; the Americans are backing them up to a point, but they wouldn't want to get into a war with China when push comes to shove.
China will continue to be weak and treated with disdain by the West so long as it continues to have a miniscule number of nuclear weapons (about 250 warheads) as compared to the US (7,300). (Russia has 8000). Even a small country like France (300 warheads) has more than China.
With its wealth, China needs to increase its nuclear weaponry very rapidly to at least match that of the US.
It also needs to renounce its “no-first-use” nuclear weapon policy and be ready to obliterate the US if this troublemaker of a country tries to stir shit and create havoc in Asia as what it does regularly in countries around the globe, especially in the Middle East.
It's only when China does this that it will gain respect and treated with respect. Until then, it will continue to be treated and humiliated by the West, especially by the US, the world's number 1 troublemaker.