Hi Stephen, Thanks for your long and informative reply. I'm not a scientist or a sinologist (with Chinese language competence). I'm simply a reporter of my experiences as a years-at-a-time sojourner with Chinese friends. And, now, as an avid China news-hound.

When one considers the "outputs" of the Chinese authoritarian system you might consider the rapidity with which technology is adopted, not simply who invented it: for random examples, mobilization of vast resources to construct airports, urban subways, and high-speed rail (in 10 years enough to span the U.S. 8 times); the universal use of cell phones (without having to de-construct a land-network) and cell-banking payment systems; the rapid adoption of Amazon-style mass marketing. Call it stealing ideas or whatever, technology is transferable knowledge. Mobilization of productive resources is as important as innovation. And not having to repair or demolish outdated systems is an advantage,

You are right, though, that authoritarianism does weigh negatively on aspects of scientific research. The rigidity of hierarchies and unrealistic standards for promotion create competitive incentives for plagiarism and falsified experimental results. (I have this on good opinion from both sides.) But with COVID as the behavioral model: the urge to cover-up (still!) is accompanied by a massive if heavy-handed, success-at-all-costs campaign that...works. It is a peculiarly CCP response to punish the truth-tellers and then address the problem.

The Chinese Revolution is barely 70 years old; its modern CCP state-capitalist-with-socialist-characteristics incarnation is about 45 years old. That's a microscopic point in historical time. Yet China is now the second-largest economy in the world. Time and again in history, a unified authoritarian political system has overcome a divided one.

So I agree with your (reluctant) final paragraph, and also with the concerns you express in your last sentence. As much as I/we fear the consequences of authoritarianism, I'm hoping that the West will take (some) of the high-social-investment, directed-economy lessons of China to heart. Complacency in the superiority of the Western political and economic system and in the inevitable failure of the Chinese model is a mistake.