China has its unique style of cxecks and balances. It is ruled by a collective. Elder "retired"leaders still have a say. Not possible for one small group to mess it all up. The CCP does self critism behind closed doors. Leaders are expected to criticie the CCP. Leaders swear to put aside self interest, states interest is always first. Corrupt leaders are purged regularly. Deng and others put systems in place to prevent Mao 2.0. Aalot of it sounds like Confucianism.
the system of checks and balances work well for 40+ years