It seems to me that China has always played on the fears of other nations. They’ve postured themselves as powerful and dominating and the world has viewed them as unrelenting in their pursuit of national objectives. That well crafted image may be nothing more than that, an image; we are about to find out.
By demonstrating the willingness to take them to the mat, Trump has shown them that America will not play by the rules that they’ve crafted. We will exercise power across the spectrum (military, markets, capital, society, political, etc) to ensure that their long game will be ineffective. The tactic of waiting out this President, that he is a temporary setback, will fail for two reasons: Trump’s willingness to apply pressure so quickly and forcefully and their realization that he may not go away two years hence.
They are now faced with the prospect that their economy may be so damaged that social upheaval may be unavoidable. And that folks, ancillary to the economics, is what worries these Communists the most.