Its like Hillary walking into a working class kitchen for the first time.
They’ve been shielded from even critical support of China and other AES for so long they literally, not figuratively, literally cannot process that people exist that have beliefs that aren’t Reddit Approved. They immediately assume it’s bots or wumao. Human beings can’t possibly hold these beliefs, so they must be Oriental hordes or actual robots.
Is Chinese capitalism efficient, and has the government helped the people’s material conditions (other than minorities/dissidents)? Yes. Are they aiming for socialism? No.
Counter point: yes they are.
So I gather that the relatively few dissidents in mainstream media is how you decide that there is excessive repression? Could it be that so many in China approve of their government that there just aren’t many dissidents and those who do speak out aren’t covered in the media you consume unless they face consequences?
As far as minorities, there has been progress for the LGBTQ+ community as well as religious minorities and other races. Could it be better and faster? Certainly, but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening or they are regressing.
As far as whether they are progressing towards socialism, if you believe Marx and Lenin, state capitalism is a necessary step towards communism and is generally accepted as ‘socialism’. What do you then classify as socialism?