It bears notice what you said about the senior party officials in China - that they tend to have a much higher representation of technical people in their ranks.
Here in the US, I think we have only about 1% of the Congress being composed of engineers and/or people from hard sciences.
The vast bulk of Congress is filled with idiot lawyers, who think they can legislate against the laws of thermodynamics.
I agree Dave. China was never going to deploy solar energy as a replacement for nuclear. There is so much propaganda floating about truth supported by verifiable facts is becoming more and more important. Someone must see this so-called report as having a political purpose. It just isn't clear what that purpose is.
There never was any potential for solar or wind to replace nuclear, coal, or petroleum generation. The limit, which can never be overcome, is because solar energy is so diffuse. At sea level a best case, high noon measurement might show 600 Watts/square meter incident. getting ten percent of that is reasonable, 60 watts. Then divide by four, since average usable sunlight is available for about 6 of 24 hours. 15 watts per square meter over 24 hours is a joke, but one which few in the lay public understand. You can bet that John Holdren does; his objective is to reduce our consumption, and destroy free markets so that the smart people can tell us what we really need.