China was and still is a Paper Tiger as far as Taiwan is concerned.
On one hand, you're constantly saying the PRC is an "aggressive, militarist, imperial etc etc threat" to peace and Asia at large, on the other you denounce and ridicule the same PRC's current non-violent re-unification policy towards Taiwan.
Here's your - let's be kind - "simplistic" statement in real geopolitical terms:
Since the demise of the Soviet Union, Desert Storm in 1991 and Clinton's 1996 "show of force" in the Taiwan straight, the PRC govt has turned its back on a military conquest of Taiwan due to US policy.
That is, the firm US policy of sustaining the status quo - ie maintaining an alternative Chinese government on a pseudo-independent RoC/Taiwan, ever-ready to usurp the CCP on the mainland.
The PRC's policy towards Taiwan, factoring in the massive US military presence in East Asia, has been to relegate the PLA to a contingency plan should the RoC govt declare Taiwanese independence. That is, setting an intollerable human and economic price for any declaration of independence by Taiwan, through keeping the PLA on permanent standby for an invasion.
On a parallel front, the PRC has waged a very successful diplomatic campaign for international recognition of the CCP as the legitimate govt of China(Taiwan included).
Would you not agree that this strategy has been very successful in preventing an RoC declaration of independence despite many a hawkish politician's attempts?
Whilst at the same time promoting cross-straight economic and immigration integration, which opens the door to a diplomatic solution to the un-ended civil war while still giving the PLA time to reform, restructure and modernise into a force that could win a regional war against US forces should diplomatic re-unification fail.
A "lionine", NATO-Iraq style invasion of Taiwan would be catastrophic for Chinese prosperity as a whole. Straightforward logic makes that obvious.
But if you prefer the "paper dragon" moniker... By all means... I guess it beats the monotonous "China-threat" characterizations.