No, it really is. Tankies live in a fantasy land, thinking the wildfire is greener on the other side of the fence.

Something can be said about unregulated, late-stage capitalism and American imperialism. The former is a malignant cancer that consumes all in its wake and demands infinite growth for itself and the ones who direct it. The latter, in service of the former, is a threat to the rest of the developed and undeveloped world.

Those are entirely reasonable criticisms, calling an apple an apple. Unchecked capitalism empowering sociopathic, self-serving oligarchs will kill us all.

Genuinely thinking of China as anything other than a competitor to America is just trading one leather boot for a different flavor of leather boot. They are both capitalist states, and they are both acting in their own self-interests of cultural and economic dominance. The only effective difference is that one calls itself a republic while the other calls itself communist.