Viewing China's economy through mercantilism

What do you mean by describing China as mercantilist rather than communist?

He sees a resource- and production-control model that can explain Chinese investments better than a simple capitalist or communist label.

Mercantilism predates industrial capitalism and measures strength through control of resources, production, and trade instead of the expansion of financial capital alone. Historically, that logic encouraged protected markets and empires able to secure inputs while denying them to rivals. Chinese overseas investment and state direction make more sense through this lens than through a simple choice between capitalism and communism. The claim is analytical: policy should be classified from observable actions and incentives instead of inherited labels. The later discussion applies the same caution to China's political system, describing a complicated mixture of oligarchic and gerontocratic features whose important relationships often operate below the visible surface.