What bothers me a lot about pro-CCP Western tankies (as opposed to pro-CCP 'new left' folks in China) is that their Utopian idea of socialist China is only made possible by absolute and complete ignorance of its history, politics, economics, material reality on the ground.

Like how can folks not know *anything* about the second largest economy in the world that they would fall for this rubbish?

That people would not do even a Google of the most basic facts, while feeling comfortable attacking, smearing, and discrediting the many millions of people who suffer under its stifling authoritarian carceral regime is comically racist and Orientalist.

Another line of argument frequently advanced for ppl on China's frontiers says "you should willingly give up your civil and political rights, because there is only One China and China is good".

Easy for you to say when a tweet or going to protest won't land u in a black jail.

On economics, an argument frequently advanced is that China lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty.

This is true, but only because the CCP mismanaged so terribly up to the late 70s and did a slower, more effective transition to market economy than the USSR's shock therapy.

It's still just developmental capitalism. In fact most CCP folks from Dengists to those under the Xi administration would tout the benefits of free market capitalist economics under the supervision of a one party system.

I am not unsympathetic to this argument, but it's not left