The topic comment at the time I’m writing this is asking fair questions, in my opinion.

- Many people feel the death penalty is wrong in every case.

- Some have a general familiarity with high-level politics of elites and wonder about selective enforcement.

These don’t feel like they’re in bad faith. The merits are difficult to know from the outside, so there will always be speculation based on someone’s lived experience and perceptions. Better to have those aired with a chance to respond, in my opinion.

Especially for China, since it is a global power that operates differently from others. In my own country (United States), for example, we have brazenly open corruption with no consequences.

first, look beyond the top comment.

then, re-read my comment:

> the merits of the concept aren't discussed; the convo falls back to whataboutism.

…juxtaposed to your conclusion:

> In my own country (United States), for example, we have brazenly open corruption with no consequences.

fwiw, i too feel that the death penalty is wrong. but, that's answering an off topic survey question.

i should also note that you've gotten pushback on your comment above declaring that "Xi has shown repeatedly that he’s serious about corruption". my issue is that there's a narrative that forms based on up/downvotes and thus these political threads are gamed. kinda like how my concerns about legitimacy are being downvoted – that's to be expected.