I'm from Europe, and no one here or in america considers Korea or Japan uncivilized or a "jungle". On the opposite, lots of weebs and kpop/kdrama fans all around.

Most of the world has moved over the concept of race, and political ideologies are what now unite people. And Korea and Japan, being democracies, belong with "western" democracies more than China. China knows this, and they try to play on feelings about race and geopraphy