Pffft! Stop it with the white hat, black hat Manichean garbage. Even middle-of-the road US media outlets like
Politico think that kind of rubbish is harmful to you in the long-run.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/10/15/donald-trump-china-trade-war-hostility-229851
It's too one-sided here - I love presenting the other side. I am a Communist, but
I have nothing to do with the CCP - they have their means and methods which are appropriate for their region and their interests at this time in their history and development, but not elsewhere. (For the record, I'm a Lithuanian living in Australia.)
I know a little about what Chinese ambitions are, the means they will use, what they are aiming for. I learned a lot from some of my Australian comrades who went to China in 1952. They are not Maoists, nor Stalinists (having broken away after the Hungarian takeover). They kept in contact with parties in those countries and a couple of wharfies (your longshoremen?), founded Australia-Russia and Australia-China friendship associations.
The last one with living memory of the 1952 visit to China was a friend of the family, Elliot Johnson, a Supreme Court judge here in South Australia, who died a couple of years ago. I spoke many times to Elliot and others those who went there then (after they finished their WW2 army stints in New Guinea), and read what they reported back from those visits.
I have scientific contact with some Russian and Chinese scientists. My professor, colleague and later supervisor at Adelaide Uni gave a series of invited talks about our work on
Internal Waves and Submarine Detection in China. Our Defence Dept. and Navy funded our work for several years and were aware of the talks we prepared.
I guess your
experience has been gleaned from newspaper articles?