Surprisingly competitive I mean its a Chinese A/C unlike the ARJ21 project. The aircraft has orders from outside suppliers in Africa. In terms of weight, speed, cursing altitude it can compete with certain ATR models. However I will agree with you on the unclearity of "Surprisingly competitive".
Also they will need to rely heavily on the outside suppliers they already provide to. The benefit could be strong in Chinese aviation's favor because they will have to rely on western business styles to be successful with no gov backing. So by learning western tactics they could move deeper into africa, and maybe soon into Europe and the Americas. But maybe I am getting carried away here...