Oh man. Your question really hits the nail on the head and what I think most people fail to realize about China's threat. China represents a form of capitalism

Oh man. Your question really hits the nail on the head and what I think most people fail to realize about China's threat. China represents a form of capitalism divorced from democracy. Their message to the world is this: you can have a thriving, well-off authoritarian state at scale. We've had small successful authoritarian capitalistic states for a while now (Gulf States and Singapore). China is managing to do it at scale -- at Chinese scale at that. China is basically saying a model when people trade individual liberty and guaranteed human rights for security and prosperity is not only workable but even preferred. They're saying concentration of power in the hands of the few as long as those in power can give wealth and security to everyone else is the winning model. This to me is the real danger of China because of this allure of authoritarianism coupled with capitalism. I think people often forget that capitalism doesn't have to be tied to democracy and classical Western liberal ideas. There only needs to be just enough rule of law, property protection, and economic freedom for capitalism to flourish -- at least for the short term.