I think Trump may throw Xi and the CCP a lifeline; but, it will come at extraordinary cost (to them).
How close are they to not being able to pay military personnel?
Problems of that type, together with severe food shortages, were key signs the USSR was collapsing.
The CCP ensures that senior cadre (civilian party workers) and all grades of the military are the FIRST to get paid.
When the CCP stops paying the military you will know, that they know, their days in power are numbered.
If they start slow paying the military, the military will make up for it by selling bits of military kit and requiring larger bribes from vendors to the military.
The high level of procurement corruption, at all levels, is one of the reasons that I am not very worried about an invasion of Taiwan. That and it is only really possible in April and October.
Next in the pay line priority are the police.
There was a phrase popular in the USSR, "The government pretends to pay us and we pretend to work."
SpyNavy
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Chicom lifeline? For at least the last three decades, maybe longer, it has been interest payments on US bonds that have financed the chicom military. If Trump wanted to force their hand simply slowing those payments would do it. They took a hit back in the 90’s when Klintoon’s guy Cohen called in all the 30 year US bonds and issued short term, lower rate, ones. A similar bit of hocus pocus could be used again. But it seems like the chicoms are quite capable of self destructing with Eleven running the show, all by themselves.