Why do you think HK was so much richer than China? Precisely because of its open economy and free enterprise.
BTW most countries that are doing well in every social indicator, are democracies. No question about that. Yes India has poverty and a lot of social evils, but that has nothing to do with democracy or totalitarianism. The reasons lie elsewhere.
I didn't specifically have democracy in mind when I wrote the post you replied to, but yes, political freedom is also important. Right now you might feel that your country is doing well economically, so the political system doesn't need to be changed. What happens when the political leadership takes a different turn, and tries to enact disastrous policies? You would really wish to have the freedom to vote them out. For instance, if you had the freedom to vote out the rulers in the 1960s, the so called "cultural revolution" would not have happened, and millions of your people would not have died, and millions of others impoverished.
What you are doing is to look at a period when your country is doing well, and drawing the erroneous conclusion that your political system is the right one, and not "western style democracy". If the shoe was on the other foot, if your rulers start ruling badly, you will want to fire them - that is only possible in a democracy. Look at how happy Indians are to have thrown out the previous govt, when they were not performing to our expectations.
All said and done, elections are just a choice. If you are happy with the current leadership, you can vote them back in. It keeps rulers on their toes, because they are accountable to the people. It's about political freedom - and yes, that is important for all humans, not just Europeans. You are being a bit condescending to your own people when you say that political freedom is not for them, as if they are not worthy of it, but "westerners" are. If Europeans are worthy of freedom, so are you and so are we and so is everybody else.