This is a lazy argument that put very different groups in the same bucket based merely on labeling. The only similarities between East Germany and China is that they've both had Soviet influences, but the commonalities end there. Everything else is different. The Chinese state run system is not at all comparable to the East Germany one.

I would go even further than that: the Chinese state run system is not one system. It differs per province, per company, and they constantly iterate the system based on what works and what doesn't. If more market orientation turns out to work, then they do more of that, while keeping the communist label. Today's state run system is a strong cooperation between public and private entities, different from the sensationalist stuff you read jn mainstream media. They're not the mindless static dogmatists that you seem to imply they are.