"But what if it is serious this time?"
Then India can cover the slack.
China population: 1.37 Billion
India population : 1.32 Billion
And now that India is supporting Bitcoin:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/suddenly-bitcoin-to-be-officially-legal-in-india
All we need is for India to buy $5/person average, of Bitcoin, and China can go back to what they do best, propagate communism.
Even if it is serious I doubt it will stop the Chinese enthusiasm for long and as you point out there are plenty of other countries to fill the temporary void.