Ya, this is in fact quantifiably better. Insofar as number of deaths = level of badness.
Neither is a picnic but I'll take a small proxy conflict over massive direct air campaign and definitely boots-on-the-ground Freedom campaigns any day.
Are you suggesting the USA has not funded proxies?
I think they were suggesting that China has bombed foreign countries through the use of proxies. They didn't actually say anything about the USA.