You can see how much better communism is on technical issues and protecting the environment by comparing the minor accident at Chernobyl with the disasters at TMI and Fukushima. Oh, wait....
Strength of Communist China are, all candidates for gov must take a Civil Service Exam to test core knowledge, entry level officials are given assignments in local and county gov to see how they do. If they do well, they move up. Operates by generational phases. They will argue and then agree to a five year plan. They stick to the five year plan, and after it is over do an assessment. Chinese gov officials are technical and are not lawyers. IAW they react to data and not who hires them. Younger candidates for leadership usually observe the ones in power, make notes of what went wrong and when they assume top leadership try to improve on it. Note when waiting in the wings, these younger candidates do not openly criticize the ones in charge knowing that things can go wrong when you are in charge. The concept of criticizing the ones on top so you can look good and vying to replace them is not encouraged under the Chinese system.
Here are the Chinese weaknesses. Officials at the local level really represent central gov only. Less in tune with local needs. Five year plans rarely change even when it goes wrong. No one wants to make the leaders lose face. So the country suffers for five years before it ends and a new five year phase begins. Gov has great perks and power, thus the ruling class wants their kids to have first shot at the position. The best and brightest in the nation do not necessarily have the chance to be in gov. Corruption and nepotism will undermine Communist legitimacy. Chinese people trust the technical competency of their officials but do not trust their integrity in terms of financial and family conflict of interests. Rule of law is weak in China. Connected members of the ruling class in China gets preferential treatment in court then average Chinese on the street unless outrage was committed by the favored family member.
Several years back there was book written call “What We Can Learn From China”. Conservatives pooh pooh the book, but it is worth reading because it outlines the civil service approach of the Chinese system (a system that served the Imperial system and adopted by the anti feudal Communists!!). It emphasizes the pros of the Chinese approach, but one can deduct the cons to it. The reason it is important to study is since the US financial imploded in 2008, emerging nations are looking for a model to modernize and advance economically. I know many in the FR are quick to point out Chinese screw ups when implementing free market capitalism, but we must be careful. The financial implosion caused by liar loans and subprime mortgages and the lack of US gov oversight at the fraud can be pointed out as an American screw up. Obamacare can be pointed out as an American screw up. Our deficit spending piling up debt equal to the US GDP (plus 70 trillion in unfunded liabilities) can be pointed out as an American screw up. All these screw ups were policies that the American people voted for via free elections.