No, I don’t think it’s that simple at all. Cancelling all her shows and movies would carry massive collateral damage to all the other innocent people involved in those shows and movies, and it’s extremely high profile and would not be a step to be taken lightly or often.
The article itself is almost explicit in linking her cancelling to Zhang Zhehan visiting the Yasukuni Warcrimes Shrine.
I myself have noticed firsthand an unhealthy degree of obsession with Japanese culture and products in younger generation Chinese youth. And that feels beyond what should be possible with just whatever you call their cartoons nonsense.
Given Zhao’s track record, it is entirely on brand for her to have made some deal with Japanese elites to actively promote Japanese culture in China.
The whole Yasukuni stunt could have been organised by her as some grand phase 2 project to rehabilitate that foul institution with Chinese youth by roping in a popular and naive young star to normalise visiting it. He China done nothing, it would have been inevitable that some of his more hardcore and stupid fans would have also flocked to visit the shrink to ape their idol.
For the Chinese authorities to have moved on her so quickly and so thoroughly suggests she has been on their radar for some time, and this was the last straw and crossing a red line all in one.
I think she was singled out as the snake head at the heart of Japanese influence operations in China, and also as the proverbial chicken to warn all the other Chinese celebrities to not let fame go to their heads, because no matter how big or powerful you think you are, you will still get cancelled without a second’s hesitation if you are moronic enough to try to bite the hand that feds you.
I think you're overthinking this.
As far as I know, Zhao Wei doesn't have any current works, so all the shows that are removed from streaming sites are old shows. There are no collateral damage to speak of.
Also, you vastly overestimate her influence, or that of Zhang Zhehan. Zhang's stunt was widely condemned on the internet, it's highly unlikely it would have inspired any kind of following. There's also the fact that other celebrities are apparently also part of this campaign, including Zheng Shuang, Wu Yifan, and Fan Bingbing.
I would venture to guess this is a house cleaning operation. Wu Yifan is going to get cancelled for sure, Zheng Shuang just needs to pay her 300 million yuan fine, and Fan Bingbing, unless she's got more skeletons in her closet, will get reinstated after a while. As for Zhao Wei, my opinion is that she's probably in the same basket as Fan Bingbing, in that she will get reinstated after certain behind-the-scenes things occur. Again, assuming she doesn't have other skeletons in the closet.