Their IR/PR game is on point. I have to give them that.
All warfare is deception.
The Chinese are a very curious bunch indeed. They have brains, they have resources, they dont waste time with ethics or optics.
Their only shortcomings IMO which will ultimately crush them are
Their deep rooted sense of being historically wronged. Its like the world owes them a huge apology and no matter what they do it pales in front of what the world did to them (Japan in WW2, European powers in Imperial age, Opium wars etc)
Their obsession with shortcuts - developing a tech needs 30 years - lets steal it. China cannot wait. So we see a pattern everywhere - in aircraft engines, in tanks, in nuclear submarines, in automobiles, in phones.
Amazing specs on paper - but then the story unravels. Poor performance under sustained use. Its not like they are not aware of the problem. But like every other race, they are blessed with virtues and vices. These vices cannot be removed without a massive change in the basic psyche of the Chinaman - something the party cannot digest.
So to cover their shortcomings, to explain why their amazing achievements always fall short, PR and deception is needed. Amazingly this is one field where they took no shortcuts. An all pervasive system of narrative control is perhaps the biggest lasting achievement of the Party.
But like Herr Goebbels discovered shortly before rage quitting, basing your regime survival on propaganda is like eating spicy Mexican food and then taking a road trip with no rest stop for 500 km. You might make it, but there is an overwhelming chance your pants will be soiled.