I also find him to be too harsh on China, but their inane zero-covid policies, the infighting within the CCP, and the recent spate of protests make me think that he might be right all along.
Every nation's leadership, and every political party, has infighting. Just look at all the infighting in US politics: it's a complete mess, and it's really dragging the US down. The US might be able to weather it better because of its stronger economy, but that's not a sure thing.
This makes government legitimacy the central political object that almost all political discourse revolves around, whether there happens to be a taboo in acknowledging it or not. Following this, policy mistakes become comparatively much harder to reverse in communist countries than in liberal/illiberal democracies, monarchies and pseudo-monarchies.
with Chinese characteristics.