> China apologists frequently cite the higher efficiency of the one party system compared to democracies hampered by due process.

In fact, China cannot even claim superiority in terms of economic growth, because their per capita GDP grows much slower than Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan for the same period during high growth (see the graph in [1]).

Hence the argument for higher efficiency is in fact misplaced, mostly based on her accumulated power largely due to huge population. But her population is aging quickly, and so will her productivity and growth.

[1]: https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-state-driven-growth-mode...