This is a complicated matter. I guess one important fact to remember is that the western mainstream media is never fair. They ignore horrible countries backed b

This is a complicated matter. I guess one important fact to remember is that the western mainstream media is never fair. They ignore horrible countries backed by CIA etc., as long as they are strategic allies of the west, and many articles that criticize China reek of hypocrisy and double standards. Therefore such media can hardly appear convincing. Shortly put, their "criticisms" always have some hidden agenda behind it, and are not really objective pieces. The western government and media couldn't care less about how the normal Chinese actually live. They only care about their own interests. That's the problem. On the other hand, if you're somebody like Chomsky, i.e. also see your own government for what it is and criticize its problems, then your arguments can be as fair and unbiased as possible. That is to say, they do not inherently have double standards or want to actually advance the interests of western countries, while trying to restrict the rise of China. You actually think in terms of the Chinese populace. Unfortunately, it has become very hard to tell these things apart, i.e. a normal American probably gets a lot of their information from the mainstream media that they read every day, after all. Therefore it's very hard for their criticism to not be tainted by the hidden agenda propagated by the media. That is a big problem.