I agree with you that mistakes have been made, both on the local level and on the national level. I also agree that there were failures to protect the interests of citizen — a thing which happens time to time.

But I strongly disagree with the notions that:

1. They "covered it up".

2. COVID is "wholly China's fault".

3. China is a jingoistic, self-obsessed, morally bankrupt country.

4. China lies and will continue to lie and cannot be trusted on anything.

5. The entire system is wholly corrupt, beyond saving, and deserves to be condemn in full.

6. China is militaristically aggressive and that "the rest of the world" sees China that way.

These notions are not based on facts. In fact, I assert that they are based on misrepresentations (i.e. anti-China propaganda), prejudice (one already believed that China is bad, so one is inclined to believe stories/rumors that confirm this regardless of their truth), ignorance (the "rest of the world" is bigger than the west), and sinophobia (fear of the Other; applying a different and unrealistic standard on China).

By and large, the Chinese population does not think that way about China at all. A 14-year long study by Harvard has found that 93% of Chinese are satisfied with the central government.[1] A later study, this time by York University, has found that satisfaction has gone up to a staggering 98%.[2] Neither of them used Chinese government data. All my family, both in the Netherlands as well as in China, are pretty satisfied with China even if everybody acknowledges there are problems (and which place don't have problems?). How can this be possible in a "shithole" that suppresses and abuses its citizen? The answer: China isn't a "shithole", nor are its citizens "supressed and abused". My Chinese wife is puzzled: "why do foreigners think China is hell?" China is just a country that does things differently and that has its own strengths and problems. Tendencies to project that beyond what it is, and into a world-threatening hellhole, is based on prejudice and sinophobia.

To those wondering what I say what I say: I recognize that China has problems and shortcomings. It would be foolish to deny that (and indeed, those who deny that are ultranationalists, that I do not approve). But when you condemn China's system wholesale, that's where you lose my support, and that's where you push me to the other side.

[1] https://ash.harvard.edu/files/ash/files/final_policy_brief_7...

[2] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350140842_Chinese_C...

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Regarding sinophobia, let's just say that I find these excerpts from your posts... highly curious, if not dishonest.

> It's also curious that global pandemics going back to the Black Death all seem to emanate from China.

Wait a minute, so this is not just about CCP?

Also: China has always had a huge population, so even based on simple probability there's a lot of things that come out of China.

> Maybe the Chinese should just stop eating bats, anteaters, and other truly wild animals saturated with known pathogens?

Oh so this is again not just about the CCP?

And let me tell you that by and large Chinese don't eat "bats, anteaters, and other truly wild animals saturated with known pathogens". But with so many people there's always a village somewhere with such practice.

Also don't forget that hygiene is something that develops over time as a country becomes more developed. China was comparable to Africa just a few decades ago. This low level of development was caused by imperalism so I find it highly disingenuous to accuse China of low hygiene.

You wonder why I'm not anti-CCP? 30 years ago when I left China, my hometown was a big mud pool with dirty streets and run-down buildings. We just came out of a period with insufficient food. Nobody owned a car, few people owned a TV or phone. Everybody had to work their ass off. In 30 years, all of that has changed. This is literally the best 30 years in the past 3000 years, and it's thanks to the cooperation between the citizens and government — neither could have achieved this in vacuum. The dirty markets of my childhood are mostly gone and overall hygiene has become much better.

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Regarding the 6 points I listed above, I'll address that separately in a separate comment.