I think he meant that it was necessary when going from a capitalist society to a communist society. China went from a rural society to a communist society to a capitalist society.

To be honest, nothing against that, it's obvious to me that communism as applied by the USSR or Mao or the Kims does not really work and the people really suffered for that, but if you do believe in the communist tenants, then China and Russia are as far away from that as you can possibly get.