Consider Spain between WWII and the return of democracy. It wasn't communist country but it was single-party and repressive, and it underwent a bloodless transition to democracy following a few decades of rapid economic growth.

Spain also has independent-minded regions and while they do have a bit of a bombing problem, it's hardly a full-blown inter-ethnic war.

So clearly it's possible to make this transition even if the immediate economic driver for change is worked around. It might even be the best way; nobody having to die in a violent revolution is good, though of course if that means democracy comes twenty years later everybody gets up to twenty years less of the improvements democracy brings.

It's not very encouraging if you want a democratic China right now, but it's surely cause for plenty of hope in the long run.