Yeah the rigor is only centered when it's convenient or empowering. My department has been begging scholars that are critical of China to become faculty for awhile. Although one of the professors is skeptical of criticisms of China that leave out the context of western crimes and the broader global system that China did not create, but the broader department and the university seems eager to get someone that is explicitly anti china in their research objectives.

To me it's hardly impossible to find things China is doing "wrong" around the world. But I am convinced there is a lot of contrived bullshit and misinformation and a lot of it does not stand up to scrutiny, but few actually criticize these narratives. The shit with Sri Lanka for exampleis repeated ad nauseum and its shoddy as hell imo.