Socialism is, put simply, a society where the working classes have control of the state, and public ownership is the principal, ie rising and dominant, form of ownership. China has therefore been socialist since the victory of the CPC in 1949 and the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.

Imperialism is, put simply, a form of international economic extraction of surplus value from one country to the other. It isn’t the same as trade between more developed and less developed countries, but in the modern era is a late stage in monopoly capitalism. It’s defined by the following characteristics:

-The presence of monopolies which play a decisive role in economic life.

-The merging of bank capital with industrial capital into finance capital controlled by a financial oligarchy.

-The export of capital as distinguished from the simple export of commodities.

-The formation of international monopolist capitalist associations (cartels) and multinational corporations.

-The domination and exploitation of other countries by militaristic imperialist powers, now through neocolonialism.

-The territorial division of the whole world among the biggest capitalist powers.

As the PRC is a socialist country, it’s pretty easy to see that they are not controlled by monopoly finance capital, and that export of capital is not how their economy is driven. We can see the difference and validity of the above explanation in how African countries a part of BRICS and BRI have seen development and growth rather than stagnation and a loss of sovereignty, like they do when under the thumb of imperialist and neocolonial countries like the west.