One party rule can still have different levels of checks and balances. Until recently, the power in China was divided between several people in the Standing Co

One party rule can still have different levels of checks and balances. Until recently, the power in China was divided between several people in the Standing Committee, loosely organized into two factions. The two factions alternated every several years (not based on elections but just a pre-agreed schedule). This was intended to prevent the leader from doing something too crazy even by CCP standards, like say another cultural revolution. Now there's no alternating between factions because there's only one faction left. And, the power of the Standing Committee is much weaker. Xi has much more power than any leader for the past couple decades. The risk of some insane decisions by Xi is therefore much greater: it's a lot more difficult for the rest of the party to stop him. Of course, if you think Xi is a good leader, who is likely to help make China more prosperous and a more enjoyable place to live in, it's possibly a good news. But even then you should be worried about succession: how to prevent some insane leader from taking control of all this power in the future?