Artist doesn't say anything but could this reference what that one Japanese Carrier Captain said, "I fear we have awoken the dragon" after bombing Pearl Harbor?
Dalveska said: "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant." Isoroku Yamamoto
It's a possibility, but at the same time, it could simply be just a plane soaring with a dragon.
It makes no sense, if the artist draw a dragon that symbolizes china. Since in the War they knew they will face a big enemy with unexpected large resources.