[Even in the best of times, China’s vaunted economic growth was a Potemkin illusion.]
My fondest hope is for Chinese civil war, kicked off by all the factions opposed to Xi. The perfect end state for such a war would be a devolution into multiple independent countries with, at most, Russia-sized populations. They’d be strong enough to defend themselves, but not strong enough to overwhelm their neighbors.
If such a scenario came to fruition, it would not be the first time this has happened in the territory in which China exists today. But it would be the first time in which large and powerful neighboring and distant powers were able to offer substantial help to the newly-independent states that were under threat from irredentists looking to re-annex these states to reconstitute the ancien regime.
“devolution into multiple independent countries with, at most, Russia-sized populations.”
Along ethnic/linguistic lines? Political fiefdoms of the various crime families running the Politburo? Broken into the Military’s Regional Commands?