The NEP was a joke, as was every economic initiative ever proposed by any Russian in history. In the NEP, it was merely foreign investment propping up the early Soviet economy. China has a thriving capitalist economy and a growing middle class, making it one of the largest consumer societies in the world. And, in case you haven’t heard, much of the development is now in the interior, in places like Chon Qing, not just on the coast.
"China has a thriving capitalist economy..."
We're fully aware that the ruling elite never eschewed money since the Revolution. We call them Communists because that's the term we use. There's that pesky political aspect to their system. If you want to boot lick authoritarian thugs, who are a adversary of the USA, then "emergent market" will do fine.