There is no way China will be the dominant nation or economy in our lifetimes. Their system of governance simply doesn't have the required factors in play for it to develop.
The appearance of its growth in recent years is because Deng Xiao Ping enabled some limited capitalism that led to them becoming a contract manufacturing powerhouse. It was off a very low base, so of course it looks like impressive growth.
The last 30 years of economic growth came primarily from export. That well is running dry after the CCP's bullying style of international diplomacy. The money earned has been plowed into real estate speculation with an oversupply of poor quality buildings. Central planning built some flashy show-piece projects, but the infrastructure projects were generally poorly planned without meeting a genuine need and aren't a good base for future growth.
They can still find some gains from natural resources, particularly by exploiting Africa, but that won't get them to USA levels of GDP. Local consumption is also limited because Chinese people aren't big spenders. They'd prefer to save money and plow it into real estate.
They haven't had a strong scientific or technological foundation to the past growth. Their research sector, although improving, is still not strong compared to western economies. Education promotes rote memory learning, not creative lateral thinking.
Just because the CCP trumpets how great they are doesn't make it so. It's all bluster and bullshit.... The more you dig into the soft propaganda claims about China's development, the more you see it's all just lies and self-aggrandizement.
