I agree. I don't advocate for what China is doing. I'm describing what I see. If a state (country) has "continue to exist forever" as an objective, then under

I agree. I don't advocate for what China is doing. I'm describing what I see. If a state (country) has "continue to exist forever" as an objective, then under that it will have "maintain national security in both the short run and the long run" as a sub-objective, and part of that is "maintain military strength'. To maintain a military requires a population of young adults. It always has, throughout history (and probably before). CCP leaders both know history and are numerate. They can also stick with policies for at least ten years. Again, I'm describing what I see, not advocating for it. Apart from population momentum, we have the conditions for long-run negative growth everywhere in the world except in sub-Saharan Africa. Momentum should dissipate in another generation. Sub-Saharan Africa seems unlikely to meet the UN's population projections for other reasons. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_momentum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_momentum