If you admit that, the issue becomes actual reality, not authoritarianism per se, and the comparison between the US and China becomes very uncomfortable when democracy is no longer a crutch.
What the hell are you talking about? China is currently undergoing an active genocide.
It must be a serious indictment that an active genocide causes less fatalities than the war in Iraq, then.
Look up the definition of genocide. Mass killing is not a requirement.
If the supremacy of democracy is not absolute, then who's to judge whether China is or is not one?