I think a country with a communist party with 90 million members and a rapid improvement in the material conditions of hundreds of millions of its citizens is quite a bit closer to eventually being communist, whether or not it is presently communist.
Do you think a country with so many billionaires can actually be communist?
In China, officials cannot take money from other people, or even go to luxury hotels for personal matters.
I think a country with a communist party with 90 million members and a rapid improvement in the material conditions of hundreds of millions of its citizens is quite a bit closer to eventually being communist, whether or not it is presently communist.