If one must look for a comparison, China is much like the former Soviet Union. So you can say, China is both strong, and quite weak, at the same time.
Xi Jinping is considered more of a traditional maoist/chinese leftist - so he will sacrifice economic growth, vitality, freedoms, for stability and especially - Party unity (under his leadership). He absolutely understands that instability and opposition will not come from outside the party, but from a split within it.
He won a struggle against the more open, consensual, free-wheeling (and corrupt) “Shanghai” wing of the party under the late Jiang Zemin and Hujintao and Xi will consolidate his gains.
So the Chinese Govt indeed can move quickly on many things and is very strong in some ways - development of energy security, building its military, copying/surpassing western technology in areas it focuses on, etc...
But its also weak. Marxism is destroying its demographics, politics do not allow for revision of failed policies, private business is suppressed, many people feel hopeless, etc...
A diplomatic saying older than this country: “Russia is never as strong as it appears, but never as weak as it appears”.