No, they actually do have a paternalistic drive to keep things healthy and pro-social above and beyond some Bond villain stuff.

I mean, yes, you also can't get away with organizing an opposition, but they really do care about social cohesion and good family values above and beyond that.

(Also, one should always note that the BBC is state owned when they write articles full of invective like this).

Your first paragraph and second contradict each other somewhat. Celebrity gossip sites are not likely to threaten the party. On the contrary they may well work as "opium for the people", or circus with the bread, to keep dissent down.

The party doesn't actually need "core socialist values" to stay in charge. They could easily have adopted a Putin (or Napoleon, or Caesar) attitude of "I don't give a damn about the framework legitimizing my rule, as long as you acknowledge me as the boss".

Maybe keeping the CCP in power and society not degenerating are correlated?

They did oversee an unprecedented rise in living standards and global influence after all...

Maybe those core socialist values were what enabled it?