As an actual communist, I do not feel any need to defend China.
The Chinese government is top heavy with bureaucrats. The same bureaucrats that are found in all countries.
Bureaucrats are all the same. They all place policy above reality. They place rules and regulations above ethics and morality. They are intrinsically mindless and incompetent. And self serving.
That the government of China is not willing to rein in the behaviour of the Chinese bureaucracy, is a failure that I will not defend.
To be a communist, one needs to believe that the workers must control the means of production. And that all people are basically equal. That the basic necessities of life must NOT be privately owned, or sold as commodities. That education, healthcare, and justice, must be available to all. Not just to the rich. And that limits must be placed on how much power or wealth any one person can have.