Actually, many Chinese people mock western commentators for how bad their takes are. Those commentators often have a superficial or highly western-centric under

Actually, many Chinese people mock western commentators for how bad their takes are. Those commentators often have a superficial or highly western-centric understanding of things in China, resulting in wrong or incomplete interpretations. Lack of Chinese language understanding is a contributing factor. That doesn't stop those commentators from getting lucrative jobs. Apparently, western audiences don't care to verify whether what commentators say are accurate, or audiences just don't care whether it's accurate. There are no consequences to even years of inaccurate commenting. So I guess if you have no professional pride, then yes you can get away with not learning Chinese.