It's how power consolidation worked, always. Autocracy, totalitarianism, fascism and communism are all just fancy labels for that very same principle, that there is a power that can and will do whatever it takes to be that power. That's why above a critical mass it's very hard to do anything about these regimes, and it's seems like the best thing is to try to isolate them (North Korea). China is of course different, because global trade. This is - again, of course - a two-sided blade, they are just as dependent on it as the rest of the world, but it likely serves as a very powerful restraint on certain types of escalation.
