I largely agree with that premise. China's economic data is very clearly partially fake. They infamously have faked unemployment numbers for decades. They hide trillions in shadow debt. I just don't think it's that fake. We may be talking about 10% or 15%. Their astounding economic climb is well correlated in far too many data points to be, eg 50% fake or something similarly outlandish. The amount of oil they're importing, the military spending, the rapid advances in various industries, the general commodity consumption, the exports, electricity consumption & generation, etc.