The President has publicly welcomed, as a matter of United States policy, China's peaceful rise and success.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

As President Obama has said many times, the United States welcomes the rise of a peaceful, prosperous China.

WHITEHOUSE: The White House

What better way for China to show that it is sincere about its peaceful rise than to take the lead?

ECONOMIST: China and Japan

All of our nations -- Australia, the United States -- all of our nations have a profound interest in the rise of a peaceful and prosperous China.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Speaks to the Australian Parliament

Chinese diplomats have been trying to project a more accommodating image since a bout of chest-thumping over the South China Sea in 2009 and 2010 which heightened anxieties in the region and damaged China's efforts to project its rise as peaceful.

ECONOMIST: The South China Sea

Our objective is to shape the environment in the Asia Pacific region in which the peaceful rise of important countries, including China, contributes to the common good, is fundamentally stabilizing and not destabilizing, and in which every party can contribute to the work at hand.

WHITEHOUSE: The White House

This disagreement suggests China seems to have trouble convincing the world that its rise is entirely peaceful.

BBC: Chinese look to US as Beijing seeks to build soft power