China in trouble with "EU Batteries Regulation" comes into full force in 2025, page-55

The internal corruption and short sighted selfishness that was already present in the system allowed the British and other European Empires to exploit the Chinese by undermining any cohesive defense, as also happened when the Russians and the Japanese had a crack at them later.... Remember, they were already a massive population and economy on a comparative basis, even then, yet couldn't defeat armies that had to sail half way around the world to fight them.... my point is that the same cracks in the system that have repeatedly brought them unstuck in the past don't seem to have any more than superficially been fixed....IMO!