It's an opinion, so what you're reading neither strives towards, nor claims to be, the whole truth. Opinions are only representative of their authors _opinion_, not the publications.

If you're wondering if you're being pandered to, consider if this paragraph from the article seems obvious to you. If it does, you are:

> We often ascribe a basic level of humanity to even the cruelest leaders, but People’s Republic of China leader Xi Jinping’s actions have forced us to rethink this assumption

I clicked on the author's profile:

"Ben Lowsen is a specialist in Chinese political and security affairs working as a China advisor for the U.S. Air Force’s Checkmate office. "