V-dem, Bertelsmann, and EDI literally has scores for China. You'll notice places like Brunei, an absolute monarchy, isn't on the list.
Because China is a democracy and Brunei is not a democracy.
Because China is a democracy and Brunei is not a democracy.
I think you confuse being listed on those indices with being a democracy.
On V-dem China takes place 177 of 179, the Bertelsmann index categorized China as "hard-line autocracy" and EDI categorizes it as "authoritarian"
This definition is nowhere to be found. I assume it's your interpretation, which, as already said, is flawed.
For example Saudi Arabia is listed on all of those indices even though its an absolute monarchy and the poster child for an autocracy.
The EDI explicitly does not try to asses whether a country is democratic or not, but just allows relative comparisons. It also doesn't include smaller countries but doesn't have as clear of a cutoff.
If you are going to use inclusion on one or more of these lists as an argument, you'll have actually cite where those lists use status as a democracy as a criteria for inclusion and how that is assessed.