I cannot judge if xi is looking for fight. China, as any other nation, is facing real challenges and problems (including those you mention). However, I do not s

I cannot judge if xi is looking for fight. China, as any other nation, is facing real challenges and problems (including those you mention). However, I do not see a strong evidence that China has from now on only the loosing 'hand' with inevitable downward trend of development across entire spectrum of social and economic lifecyle. In addition, wealth is a relative metric, which means one would have to specify relative to what/who it will weaken. The world as of right now is in the state of flux of change, force-fields are shifting and every nation is positioning itself to benefit from the anticipated future situation. Certainly this is a self-referential issue since each country may influence the process itself. Therefore, I think 'chest thumping' is going to be the norm for a while (not only by CCP). History teaches us that conflicts (of any kind) are natural during such periods.