Manipulating COVID death counts isn't disappearing the actual deaths themselves. We know deaths still happened, like the Time article said "China’s True COVID Death Toll Estimated To Be in Hundreds of Thousands" - so let us assume that's completely true!

1.4 billion people live in China. The fact that only a few hundred thousand died is a miracle that almost no other country can match when you actually start comparing numbers directly. China outperformed everyone else when you measure how many people died against how many people didn't die. If China just let er rip like America did, over 6 million would have died. Think about that.