The Asian powerhouse has not finished any lower than third at a Summer Games since Sydney 2000 and topped the pile when they played host in Beijing in 2008.

They slipped from second to third at Rio 2016, however, after Britain's superb performance saw them finish behind the United States, and work is underway in a bid to ensure no more ground is lost.

Liu said to Chinese news agency Xinhua that as well as the traditional contenders, Japan would also be a threat on home soil and claimed the hosts had "borrowed" the "whole nation" system used in his country.

He added that the five sports added to the programme for Tokyo – baseball/softball, climbing, karate, skateboarding and surfing – were not disciplines where China expected much success.

"The global sports landscape hasn't changed too much," said Liu.

"The United States still dominates World Championships, especially in athletics and swimming, as we can see from events in 2018 and the first half of 2019. 

"Russia is rising although it was prohibited from several events in 2018. 

"France, as the next Olympics host, has done a lot in preparation and lay-out. 

"Britain and Germany are also improving. 

"It's worth noting that Japan ranked no better than the second group on the medal tally when attending Olympic Games on foreign soil, but it's improving so rapidly that it has even set the goal of over 30 golds, which we think is totally reachable through hard training.

"Therefore, China is facing serious challenges if we want to stay in the top three."

Liu said that China remained strong in sports it has traditionally excelled in such as weightlifting, diving, table tennis, badminton, gymnastics and shooting.

"If there's still something that deserves our concern, it should be the newly-added events at the Tokyo Olympics, such as karate, sport climbing, baseball and softball," he added. 

"Although China has made great progress, there's still a long way to go before we catch up.

"Japan has invested a lot in athletic sports in recent years and has borrowed our 'whole nation' system. 

"More importantly, these newly-added events are their strength but our weakness, which results in more pressure on us. 

"Apart from its traditional advantageous events, such as karate, wrestling, and baseball, they have also shown momentum in events like cycling, fencing and tennis. 

"In this sense, we have no absolute advantage over Japan, so the Tokyo Olympics will be a most challenging one for us."