Seems pretty optimistic to me. The primary thrust of the unrest in China is that the peasants don't like the capitalistic changes that are being implemented by Beijing.
Yes, as you pointed out, there is a possibility that peasants may perceive the whole industrialization as a bad idea. At least there could be sizable minority who see things that way.
Waldron is giving the second best scenario, next to Chinese leaders acting like Singapore leadership, which is the best case scenario, but has no chance of happening.
That's nonsense.