[lacampbell]

Also they brought the most populous country in the world from extreme poverty to a near superpower status

Doesn't that kind of prove his point? The worlds most populous country isn't even a super power. It under-performs.

BTW, a less hyperbolic rendition might be "china went from a low-income country to a middle income country", as that's all that happened. It was nothing particularly remarkable, the same thing happened in many Asian countries.