I find it odd to contemplate a strong middle class in a communist/dictator type country. Educated people with resources and dictatorships don't seem to get along very well.
Fern
They have moving much closer to a quasi-hybrid capitalist society for a while now. Like I (and I believe you) said, long term versus short term. Long term they know they have the ability to be an economic powerhouse that is mostly self sufficient and if they have to pretend to give up a little bit of their power to achieve it they will.
Their end goal is, imo, the same as just about every other country/group/person and that is power. How did the US become the worlds super power? Our economy, a large portion of which was internal during our rise to power. They have the potential (due to sheer population) to far exceed that, so why would they try and reinvent the wheel?
They grow their economy at the expense of ours while slowly replacing our reduced demand with their own increased demand due to said economic expansion.
Edit:
You said "eventually we won't be able to buy their products", I think their "end game" is for their own people to be able to buy their products by the time that happens.