[coldtea]

And Russia, and right vs left, etc.

Invocation of whataboutism is a mind bug and a lazy excuse to be one-sided that has to die.

And it's not just a "let's focus on X FOR NOW" issue (which would still be wrong, as issues should be judged relatively to gauge their importance).

It's mainly invoked by people who never bother to point fingers on the non-X sides, so the "let's focus on X FOR NOW" is more like "let's focus on X permanently".

[megous]

Invocation of whataboutism is not a mind bug. It's the problem of never acknowledging your own issues and deflecting the criticism/concerns.

The hypothetical interaction that would go "US: Hey China, we worry about your policy X. China: Hey US, we sort of understand where you're coming from, given your history. We also see similar issue with some of your policies..." would be perfectly fine.