I think it's a matter of opinion, don't think they'll ever cancel expired COPR because all said and done, Canada is a fair country. I've spoken to a lot of my friends there and the situation is grim, even survival level jobs which are the staple for most new immigrants and college students are very scarce. Given the sitaution, I think the government is doing the best it can, given the resources and information available at the time.
Yes, they are issuing new PRs but they aren't allowed to land yet. All in all, there are maybe 20-25k (upper limit or 6 rounds of 4k PRS) people with an expired COPR in the world which is a drop for the total number of immigrants Canada wishes to achieve. More than likely, we will be issued a blanket extension when all of this calms down.
As for the Chinese Visas, this is true all over the world. China and its' people have the most amount of money to invest, their ulterior motives maybe suspect but money is money and that is what countries need right now as they are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Sorry for the long post, intention was not to argue or preach but when you said "Don't be surprised when they start cancelling expired/rejecting COPR for some flimsy reasons " it rubbed me off the wrong way.
Unfortunately, no one of us is the center of the IRCC universe right now irrespective of the problems we each have due to this situation. The pandemic was unprecedented and no country in the world was equipped to deal with it, Canada included.