The Japanese more than anyone else, made the PRC possible. Their brutality preempted all alternatives and China’s weakness stood out.
Only a strong and prosperous country can afford democracy. At some point, the transition will come about.
Chins is the last East Asian authoritarian holdout.
No, at some point the transition will not come about, that is magical thinking at best, arrogance at worst. Democracy is the exception in world history, most of which has had humankind in top down sorts of arrangements with decrees being handed down from on high. If the government there obtains AI of sufficient sophistication, then they will have servants that will never question orders. That is a gamechanger for keeping authoritarians in power past the point of disgust for their enablers.