If by ‘thinning the herd’, you mean the Great Leap Forward, yes, that helped. Genocide usually thins the herd.
China already had the problem of an aging population and their labor force was no longer the cheapest.
One child laws saw to that.
This will make the supply chain migration out of china happen sooner rather than later.
If by ‘thin the herd’ you mean this virus? Probably not. 2% isn’t that great a mortality when compared with other viruses that have burned through humanity. However humanity hasn’t seen one with this kill rate in about 100 years. We’ve forgotten.
Every little bit helps especially when the plebs get feisty and there is no war furnace in which to feed them.