A similar issue for companies and even communities is not total power but focused power where value can be extracted. Increasing total power is scalable but inc

A similar issue for companies and even communities is not total power but focused power where value can be extracted. Increasing total power is scalable but increasing it in a chosen direction is not. A free market for example is "efficient" but you can't control (and take credit) for anything it produces. It's output is wild. So what's good for the Chinese people may not necessarily be good for the concept of China and if the concept of China is broken so is the concept of being Chinese. HK/Taiwan already stress this dynamic somewhat. As to why it's so important for this concept to remain whole I suspect it's historical/cultural. Fragmented city states proper as long as the ecosystem does not contain warmongers. Each city-state requiring its own military is like each individual being hunter-gatherers. Civilization doesn't proceed without the freedom to specialize. The "humiliation of China" which started via the opium wars is very fresh relatively speaking. Many countries including the US still operate with a domination oriented mindset rather than mutual prospering. To China's credit. Historically it has never over extended and tried to dominate other countries in the way many western countries have despite often being able to do so.