Yep .....BUT ..... China doesn't actually need a vast PLA to be and remain the Central Kingdom.
Maybe PLA aligned CCP factions realise this reality, thus the Politburo purges and some tiresome sabre rattling ATM.
China's greatest enemy has always been its own (unnecessary) paranoia. Paranoia has historically led to bouts of disastrous isolationism.
Commercial trust effectively diluted China's paranoia over the past few decades. In a Trump free world, commerce can again defeat China's paranoia in coming years.
