Yes, and it seems it will only get worse, for Chinese and CCP members, because Xi is afraid of other CCP members and when that happens in communism, paranoid dictators go on killing spree and oppression. I've written about this...

“Communism is as crude an attempt to explain society and the individual as if a surgeon were to perform his delicate operations with a meat ax. All that is subtle in human psychology and in the structure of society (which is even more complex), all of this is reduced to crude economic processes. The whole created being—man—is reduced to matter. It is characteristic that Communism is so devoid of arguments that it has none to advance against its opponents in our Communist countries. It lacks arguments and hence there is the club, the prison, the concentration camp, and insane asylums with forced confinement.” ― Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Warning to the West

Solzhenitsyn emphasized the significantly more oppressive character of the Soviet totalitarian regime, in comparison to the Russian Empire of the House of Romanov. He asserted that Imperial Russia did not practice any real censorship in the style of the Soviet Glavlit. General Directorate for the Protection of State Secrets in the Press under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (Russian: Главное управление по охране государственных тайн в печати при СМ СССР) was the official censorship and state secret protection organ in the Soviet Union. The censorship agency was established in 1922 under the name "Main Administration for Literary and Publishing Affairs at the RSFSR Narkompros", abbreviated as Glavlit (Главлит). The latter term was in semiofficial use until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Since the word "Glavlit" hints at "literature", the organization is often confused with Goskomizdat, which performed another type of censorship: it controlled the political content in fiction, poetry, etc.

He asserted that in Imperial Russia political prisoners typically were not forced into labor camps, and that the number of political prisoners and exiles was only one ten-thousandth of those in the Soviet Union. He noted that the Tsar's secret police, or Okhrana, was only present in the three largest cities, and not at all in the Imperial Russian Army.

And that is what we see with Xi, don't we? Meat Axe approach to surgery. Blunt force trauma to anyone who might be a threat. You don't do that if you have control, you only do that if you are afraid of losing control. And so you sacrifice the growth of country and approval of its people for the fear and oppression methods, because in communism, that is the only way to protect yourself from other communists. It does not matter how loyal someone is to communist party, they will be purged eventually if its choice between them and party. So to secure longevity in communist party is to kill anyone who might challenge you before they do it. That is how Xi thinks. From the outside it seems like he is not afraid anyone, but I think the oppression is from paranoid that he will be purged by other communist party members to preserve the party. But if he has enough power and kills anyone who might be a challenge he survives , but price is fear of betrayal.... for such is the communist system. Atmosphere of fear and oppression, Always.

I've also try to make sense of more and more aggressive Xi policies.

When Stalin and Mao came to power they acted very similarly. Because communist parties are atmosphere of fear and oppression and as a result no one is safe, even the guy on the top is not safe. As a result deep paranoia sets in and it seems that the more power and oppression we see from Xi, he is channeling his Stalin and Mao methods. They killed of and tortured everyone who might be a threat.

While long term goal is global domination by the CCP and Xi on top, before he can get there he must secure his own position and in communist party that is a huge problem. I think as problems of leadership mounts about inner problems of economy in China, poverty, covid and combined with tarrifs from other countries, more leaks and less public support and more pressure for the civil and human rights and labour rights the less control Xi feels he has and like Mao and Stalin , right on cue the response is that of paranoid man, so everyone is seen as potential enemy, and the only way in the mind of people like Xi to protect themselves is to use force against everyone who might be potential rival and rule trough terror. This is typical of Mao and Stalin way of thinking and behaving.

As a result the communist party members get killed off or tortured or purged first than the private sector, like Jack Ma lately, and than ordinary Chinese citizens and after that comes outside of China people. The more paranoid Xi gets the more he will become aggressive and lately things are not going the way he would like so aggressive and terror increased , sharply in desperate attempt to preserve reputation all is good and also to kill of and purge all who might be a problem. If all was going well he would not act like this.

Australia tariffs lately, people starting to demand investigation of covid and blame CCP, Japan investing in military and teaming up with Vietnam to drill for resources in South China Sea. Belt and Road initiative not going as planed, even survilance state is not going as well as they hopped. Covid hit their economy as well as others on which they depend. Tariff wars with India, USA, UK. Trump and middle east countries signing peace deals seem to be part of a larger strategy where local countries don't like Pakistan and Iran which China backs up and so the other countries are uniting to try to counter that threat. Biden is still not president. etc.

This just came out: Shenyang shuts more communities to curb outbreak

Things are not going as planed for very ambitious Xi, so he is doing what paranoid dictators do, militarization, supression and censorship of opposing views.

And to see how Stalin behaved as indeed did Mao and now similarity with Xi, there is a good video.

Why Does Joseph Stalin Matter?
Recorded on January 25, 2018.

And this is a good article to try to explain what goals CCP might have long term in regards to foreign policy.

How Xi Jinping’s “New Era” Should Have Ended U.S. Debate on Beijing’s Ambitions
May 8, 2020 by Daniel Tobin, Senior Associate (Non-resident), Freeman Chair in China Studies

[csis.org]