Here is a counterpoint to think.
We are fed only by the hegemonic western narrative. Sticking labels on a government and a culture without knowing them at all is a hasty attitude.
The article by the American researcher, Salvatore Balbones, must have its true points (it is necessary to keep our eyes open), but it does not consider the vigilantism and the interference of the USA on the other countries, interference that has been causing economic embargoes, political disturbances , coups d'état and wars.
If authoritarianism (Salazar, Franco and Mussolini cited as an example in the article) is subscribed to a regional reality, and totalitarianism has instruments to encompass other nations, Americans have been totalitarian for many decades.
I think it isn't yet possible to be assertive about the topic, chinese "T-word".
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I leave an article published on the Information Clearing House website, just to balance the narratives:
Opinion: - How Democratic is China? 
Like Capitalism, Democracy is a tool in China, not a religion.
