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a lack of strong competitors would put stress on China’s political system and ultimately incentivize them towards Imperialist policy

I would consider (re-?) studying the ML conception of how imperialism comes to be.

For example, if any mechanisms of the welfare state in Europe, example universal health care such as NHS in the UK, are not sufficient pressures* to turn those capitalist countries away from imperialism, should we then reconsider that capital mechanisms within a socialist state isn't runaway train to imperialism with or without competition from other capitalist countries? Capitalist countries are not the check on imperialism for other countries socialist or not; they are only a check on at most who gets the last word on where the most concentration of capital ends up in and where underdevelopment is maxmised as an expense to the global south.

(Eg WWII did not stop German - as part of a Western Hegemon - imperialism on the global stage, it only confirmed its shift of centre to the US)

In fact capitalist pressure is the opposite, it is to promote capitalism including in China (though failing).

Maybe consider studying the autodynamism aspect of dialectical materialism; for me personally Thinking In Systems by Meadows helped a great deal.

*they're not pressures against imperialism at all (1) in practice, unfortunately, when you reduce western workers' precarity as a whole their solidarity collectively with the global south proleteriat goes away with it (2) welfare state means those aspects the welfare state is targeting is somewhat removed from markets for capital to exploit, so capital chases investment in markets outside the border (3) that welfare state is being subsidised through the superexploitation of the global south via the unequal exchange.

Hope that helped.