China doesn’t engage in debt traps?

Correct. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2021/02/china-debt-trap-diplomacy/617953/

The Atlantic is well know for its hardline pro European propaganda and you can read their analysis.

Seems to me they’re doing it plenty and obfuscating as much as they can.

That's what the West does, and the West is losing. China doesn't want to lose like the West loses, so they are doing something different. Stop projecting.

State capitalism is still capitalism

This is not a useful analysis. State capitalism has different class characteristics.

they sure seem to have bought into the predatory loan part.

Stop projecting.

like I said, they’re just working in their own self interest.

Which is to not fail by following what the West has done.

If China could be the unipolar power of the world they would go for it.

Stop projecting. There is nothing in their writing, politics, rhetoric, or theory that would lead to this conclusion. The only way to come to this conclusion is to image that they are just as fucked up as Europe is but better at hiding it. This is silly.

They talk about a multipolar future because it sounds nice while they strong arm all their neighbors over their imaginary nine dotted line. I don’t expect China and Russia to ‘do a westy’, they’re already doing their own brand of selfish foreign policy.

False equivalency. Pushing the West out of the Pacific is not the same as the West invading the Pacific. This is the same argument that slaves killing their masters is just as violent, or worse, then masters dominating their slaves.

I find it’s fascinating how you can harp on the west for their myriad of sins while ignoring Chinese state capitalism which extracts wealth in the same manner you criticize

You wouldn't find it fascinating if you actually studied the topic. Instead your are mystified that someone else doesn't have the same propaganda-informed ignorance that you have. That's not fascinating, it's pedestrian. Raise your standards.

Russian oligarchical kleptocracy

Is terrible. It is still better for them to expand their sphere of influence for Western oligarchical kleptocracy to maintain it's dominance over the world. Nothing has been worse for the world than the West.

Both nations have imperial holdings, ask the Chechens or the Tibetans. At least I’m able to criticize my country’s bullshit without being locked up.

The Tibetans who speak their native language from preschool through university? Why don't you ask the Tibetans who live in Tibet whether they'd rather be in a Chinese autonomous region or in an Indian Reservation? The Tibetans are in far better shape than even most mainland Americans, let alone the people that the genocidal Europeans still dominate and destroy today. You know why you, personally, can criticize your country's bullshit without being locked up? 1) your voice doesn't matter, 2) you're privileged. But that's just you. There are plenty of political prisoners throughout white controlled lands, people who critique the government get locked up pretty regularly, or beaten, or assassinated. But because they're black, or indigenous, you don't remember them or even consider it the same thing. Meanwhile in China, there's plenty of criticism happening all the time within the country and people don't get locked up. It's almost like there's a nuanced position on the topic. What's the net result of that nuance? China imprisons far less of its own people than the US does AND 95% of Chinese people approve of their government and that's been true for all 15 years that Harvard has been conducting their immense study.

You keep projecting to make yourself feel better. It doesn't matter. The West will collapse under its own contradictions and China will not become the new West, because China knows that becoming the new West is the path to ruin. And the proof is here: we're all watching the West slowly dying.