No, I’m not sure they did not. I disagree with the parent poster who praises a dictator regime for being able to dispose of people at will.
China strikes me as a somewhat oppressive society, whose norms and mores I would prefer not to live under. However, I do not have the impression that it is ruled by fiat. They have harsh laws against corruption, though my impression is that enforcement is uneven and many choose to gamble, on either not getting caught or being able to bribe their way out of trouble.
Isn't it possible that you're just defaulting to assuming business operators are generally innocent and public authorities generally dictatorial?
Read the original comment I replied to.
It’s along the lines of “It is bad that in US there are no consequences when no law is broken or when it cannot be proven. In China they can just charge you with corruption in general or whatever and hang you.”
I felt you misrepresented it, and that you have done again here. It makes a simple policy argument that there should be sterner consequences for lying to the public, contrasting the US with some other countries. You have rewritten it to say something quite different.
What do you think 'In China, prosecutors would chalk it up to general charges of "corruption" or "public dishonesty" or whatever.' means?
And have you not noticed how people sometimes get longer prison terms for small crimes than large ones? As of 2021, the US incarcerates ~5x more people than China (per capita), but penalties for untoward business activity are generally light.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/incarcera...
I can glean no other message from the comment. What you’re describing would require quite a bit of mental gymnastics on my part.
I think you’re ignoring what the comment says in clear plain English and interpreting it in a way you think is less controversial.