I’m saying that China does not economically classify as a communist state
They do. Because they're pursuing communist economic policies.
communism as officially proclaimed ideology is conflated with communism as an actual economic system
Sure. If I'm Elon Musk and saying "By the way, I am actually a socialist. Just not the kind that shifts resources from most productive to least productive" then that's horseshit nonsense.
However, if I'm Luo Wen, the current director of the State Administration for Market Regulation, focused on breaking up monopolies and limiting the capacity of private business to consolidate control in a given industry, I'm both ideologically and actually committed to communist economic principles.
A state can even apply some of the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist principles, but it is economically capitalist as long as means of production are controlled by private entities
The Chinese state leadership gave up on trying to be direct owner-operators of capital during the Deng Era. However, it still strictly enforces a prohibition on foreign control of domestic capital as a legacy of its anti-colonial mission. The means of production remain property of the Chinese proletariat.