Genuine question so please don’t hate on me. It seems to me that china now is more of a mixed market than a planned economy. Billionaires and class disparities definitely still exist in China and it seems like american communists almost romanticize china while ignoring obvious flaws in its system, only because they (rightfully) hate america and america hates China. China also supplies all of the world’s exploitative corporations with the vast majority of their goods. While China is probably better than the capitalist economies of the west, I don’t understand why a lot of people seem to hold it in the same regard as the USSR.
There's nuanced arguments you can make and people here already have, but the simplest answer is because it's the U.S.'s current scapegoat. The foundations for a pervasisve anti-Chinese concensus in the U.S. and its client states are being built now, and anyone who knows even a lick of history knows that means nothing good for anyone. Anti-Asian domestic racism, official and unofficial; crack downs on Chinese "sympathizers" who will inivetiably be socialists; support for color revolutions on the Chinese periphery that will lead to thousands of deaths and empower right-wing nationalist parties just like in Eastern Europe; ever-more spending for military equipment that will eventually be used on someone; the list goes on.
Every other criticism or praise is secondary.