Absolutely. Even if it doesn't ascend right away (which I'm betting it won't), it can always try again a few centuries down the line.
Mostly, I'm more insistent on a temporary fragmentation (and possible "Third Opium War" that ends much the same way as the first two, minus the opium) occurring, with reunification being brought back onto the table when its foreign oppressors who capitalize on the current regime's self-destruction are finally spent. That, I believe, will have to wait for the end of America's "Dominate" period.