China might look like playing double game, but they're clear with their plans. It was China who helped with the circulation of bitcoin in the earlier days. During those days, even the grown economies and the technology wise developed nations too didn't considered it. At some point fake volume issue were identified during inspection by People's Bank of China. From then onwards it started strict regulation and terminated the operation of few exchanges. Later the ban on cryptocurrency mining, altcoins and bitcoin happened. Every country wants them to be dominant in the technology, and the increasing demand made China stay away from the race.
As OP said China hadn't grown out of making some cheap politics between the powers, it have got the strong manufacturing setup which is the reason it have emerged as one among the strong economy in the last 20 years. USA also a reason, to suppress the supreme power of Russia media started to compare between China and USA which too helped them in the growth.
China has always looked for its own benefit. Its tactics has led it to where it is right now. Currently, China is the world's second-largest economy. And it could become the largest economy in the world if it continues to do what it's doing. By adopting crypto/Blockchain tech, China could get the tools/knowledge it needs to help strengthen its CBDC (digital Yuan). It can also collect huge taxes along the way. China is not stupid, unlike the US that recently went aggressive against the industry.
If America continues to reject crypto, then it will be left behind in the dust, paving the way for China to take over the world. Crypto is the future whenever governments like it or not. Let's see how everything will play out in the long run. As long as crypto stays decentralized, nothing else matters. Just my thoughts
