Most Europeans do not think about some ill-defined "communist threat" at all. The majority of negative opinions about China stem from economic worries.

Also FYI: the CCP has officially adopted the designation "socialist democracy" for themselves*, so I don't think you're going to bother them much by using that term. You'll have to get more specific about what you think their "democracy" should look like for them to start giving you the side-eye.

* Many places that are not really recognizable as democracies from a western POV do this. People, we have democracy at home!