@hightor,
No, it doesn't look good. Xi has invested trillions in other countries when his country is a mess. Banks are stealing savers' money, buildings are falling over, 37 bridges have collapsed - and much more. I agree that neither is communistic - they're more despotic. Those countries can't pay back the money for the roads, bridges, ports, etc. They have no money. And they're being built by Chinese companies, many of which who are corrupt to the core. Roads have been built to nowhere, for Pete's sake.
Have you heard of "lie flat"? Young people are refusing to work what they call 9-6 - nine hours a day, 6 days a week. They're not getting married and not having kids. Their housing crisis is insane - it was a Ponzi scheme. Unfinished buildings sold to people who are paying mortgages on uninhabitable apartments. Now some of those mortgage-holders are refusing to pay the banks. People are getting arrested because of their debt.
During Zero Covid, students were encouraged to attend universities because there was no work, and undergrads were encouraged to get further degrees. Many, many factories and other companies have closed, moving to Vietnam, India, etc. Whole malls are empty. No workers = no sales. Now Xi is telling those graduates to go out to the country and work the farms and to quit being sissies. Thousands upon thousands of young people have already left China. The various embassies in the Tier One cities have long, long line-ups every day.
The truth about what's going on in China is staggering compared to how Xi presents it. This is all Xi's doing.