China pressures Germany's Continental to cut out Lithuania – sources

In this case, China is quite clearly the imperial bully.

Different sources I can find have between 4 and 5 of the top 10 as European, the rest Asian, and pretty consistently have them alternating the top 4.

There are a lot of countries in Europe. Most of them were not bullies or, at least, were far less bullies than their neighbors: Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Poland, Sweden, Romania, ...

Even some of the big empires (e.g.: Netherlands, Belgium) actually went through the experience of being bullied.

Some people could have made mistakes as a teenager. How they are now is more important, humans ( normally ) learn from mistakes.

Same for countries, Europe has changed a lot over the years/decades/centuries.

Because of advancements in technologies enabling global communication, the success is now mostly based on trade and not on war/conquer like in the past. People keep forgetting that it really is a different world compared to 1600.

There isn't a good frame of reference to understand what a hegemonic China will entail in the long-term for a country like Lithuania. It's certainly unlikely that the US will continue to provide security (NATO). Nor will the EU provide an effective economic and diplomatic force if member states can be played against each other.

> while their current competitor hasn't done much on the international scene.

So holding African ports for ransom and illegally invading the territorial waters of countries from Ecuador to Argentina doesn't count?

I’m not quite sure what point you’re trying to make, but I assure you I’m well aware of the political situation. Maybe you should make fewer assumptions out of ignorance.