I've traveled to China ~5x [0], visited a range of cities Tier 1-3 over a collective 5 months, and grew up in the USA. I also currently live in Vietnam (~3.5 years) and spent 5.5 years working for a Singaporean company and a team stationed in Beijing.
I don't really know how else to express my experiences living in, working with, and interacting with people in both of these countries.
Perhaps you can share how life was like for you in China? Which cities were you in? What made you feel that way about China?
[0] - not including HK (~7 trips?) or TW (3 trips)
> I don't really know how else to express my experiences living in, working with, and interacting with people in both of these countries.
Could you please describe your experiences, since you didn't? I've also been to China twice now (also multi month trips). I visited Tier 1-3 cities like Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, and Chongqing etc, as well as some smaller cities. I'm very curious to hear about your experiences. How did they differ from the West for you?
It's not a secret that China is run as an authoritarian dictatorship. Xi Jinping cannot be ousted in an election. He appointed himself for life, and regularly purges anyone who might usurp his power. They don't have a functioning democracy. Are you seriously disputing any of this?
None of this excuses issues with American democracy.
2 parties, there are only two parties. and they vote on a majority of issues the same way. defense spending, judicial nominations, rote legislation, etc.
at least china isn’t pretending to be anything else
That balancing doesn't seem to be working very well lately, considering all the insane stuff Trump gets away with it. Sure, China is a dictatorship, but I'm not sure America will meet the definition of a democracy for long anymore.
This is just oriental despotism paranoia, whatever cutsie repetition slogan you come up with is not a serious argument.