If Europe shared a border with China you can bet they'd have a different attitude. If they didn't rely on the U.S. (and Japan) to keep China (and Russia) in check you can bet they'd have a different attitude. On the other hand, the U.S. can't have its cake (be the superpower) and eat it too (expect Europe to push back on China). In short, sorry to disagree, but I don't believe Europe or Africa are exactly about to become China's best buds. They want Chinese money and cheap goods. Nothing else.
It doesn't matter what you or I support, right? China won't be the next world power for many reasons, starting with they don't want it in the first place (which you pointed out).
Your question about what China's being bad has to do with it becoming powerful must factor in other countries attitude towards following Chinese leadership. I don't see a friendly attitude there. A respectful one, sure, friendly, no.
For example, in chip making, which is in the news lately, Taiwan is five years, maybe forever, ahead of China. Why, because European companies, like Germany and the Swiss, will sell them their advanced technologies. They won't to China because China doesn't protect their intellectual property. The biggest blind spot I believe you have is in understanding how new technology is created and how poorly China does this because of CCP micromanagement.
Right now, "Squid Game" is the rage in China even though China doesn't allow SK to sell media in China. Does China stomp it out? Nope. Nothing has changed. China has a graying population. Is facing huge competition from the rest of Asia and India. If Africa gets its act together it has the young population to beat China at its own game.
Great powers learn to get along with others. Perhaps China can in the future. I see it going the other way at the moment. I believe it reached peak economic growth around 2015. Since then, China has stagnated and, as its long history attests, internal problems DO matter ;)
How powerful can you be if you're too afraid to leave your own country? To predict what you might say, "that doesn't mean the U.S. will come out on top." I agree!
