I would say it is more of China getting ready of protracted economical and technlogical struggle (term used by Xi) against the US.
The number 1 priority with all these recent measures is increasing and concentrating China's comprehensive national power (a term used by the CPC). This also includes data security.
I believe that in the following months/year we will see drastic changes in the regulatory environment. And I propose that any further changes should be seen by the lens of increasing China's comprehensive national power
Well, I think part of the "war preparations" also have to do with going after the wealth of pro-US and anti-Xi CEOs and other Chinese elites (such as Jack Ma, Cao Dewang, Zhang Xin, Pan Shiyi, etc.). As I mentioned earlier, after the purge of the neoliberal intellectuals and workers in 1989, the most pro-US and anti-Xi folks in China happen to be well-connected business professionals who made their wealth through neoliberal capitalism and exploitation of Chinese workers through 996. When these individuals move their families and assets to the US, they also happen to be some of the strongest supporters of the GOP because the GOP is also against redistribution of wealth and oppose social welfare for the poor. In fact, these CEOs are so zero-sum in their thinking that they literally see the world through pure Darwinian lenses, and they aren't innocent either when it comes to corruptions in China.
During Jiang Zemin era, the "Three Represents" ideology allowed these well-connected private entrepreneurs (deemed "advanced elements" of the society) to not just make money in an unfair playing field based on connections with CCP officials, but also join the CCP itself. There is nothing wrong with "Three Represents" by itself, but the various legal loopholes allowed many well-connected private businesses to accumulate with through not-so-legal channels, while becoming elites themselves. During the Hu-Wen era, these guys continued to accumulate their wealth through a mix genuine market activities and bribing officials to give them contracts (such as literally stealing agricultural lands from poor farmers for property development without any compensation, and then team up with their bribed officials to beat up - even kill - the protesting farmers should they dare to demand compensations). As a result, many of China's most powerful and successful entrepreneurs just happen to carry lots of "original sins" with them, and they know that the CCP could one day use their originals sins to demand wealth redistribution. That is why they are not only pro-US, but also want to move their kids, wives, and as many properties as possible to the US due to the lack of extradition treaty between US and China, as well as ideological and geopolitical rivalry.
Xi has just proven to be their worst fear. How do they fight back? Hey, my enemy's enemy is my best friend! Since I have made so much wealth in a Darwinian world with lots of sins, and I don't want to share them, so teaming with anti-China Trump and the GOP not only protects my wealth, but also the personal safety of my family members. Even if I were to be arrested, at least my family could live as rich Americans in Beverly Hills, Rowland Heights, San Marino, etc.
For Xi, however, while going after the wealth of these successful private entrepreneurs could potentially make the society as a whole more just in the short term, the "common prosperity" approach could also stifle innovation and entrepreneurship. The irony of post-1992 capitalism is that some of the most treacherous entrepreneurs also happen to be those who made China rich, help the country absorb foreign technologies and innovate based on them, and provide job opportunities for millions migrant workers. However, wealth and power inequality make people jealous and bitter, especially when injustices (like bribed police torturing workers on behalf of capitalists, while arresting labor activists) occurred almost on a daily basis during the Hu-Wen era. That's the root of contemporary Chinese populism and hatred toward the pro-West wealthy elite, forming the power base for Xi's popular nationalist ideology.
