Benign or otherwise, and yes quite a late comer to the game and was into for barely 50 + years, but ... still an Imperial power with colonies and special concessions to show for :) ...
BTW, Imperial China was, by historical standard of the time, considered as a relatively non-repressive Imperial power also. The greatest of China's dynastic power (Han, Tang, Qing) were all relatively open and inclusive at the height of their power.
Yer fulla crap.. America has never been an Imperialist country.
We are the antithesis of the very idea