It makes a falsifiable prediction tho: compared to the other BRICS China is gonna tank
I recall these predictions 10-15 years ago. Since then, for all the advantages every other country had compared to the China, the other BRICS have gone nowhere relatively speaking.
As for "fudging some numbers" - economic data is all surveys and samples. Methodologies are "revised" regularly ostensibly to "better capture the reality". You have the subtle ones like inflation baskets (CPI), and survey for manufacturing or services (PMI) and the less subtle ones like 2015 India redoing their GDP methodology and finding an extra 1.5% a year down the back of the sofa.
It doesn't exactly take a deep dive into the field to see it is not limited to BRICS either.