Nah, I think you're being too paranoid. I see plenty of less-China-critical (not even pro-China) comments get downvoted, and China-critical comments upvoted.
Also, CCP shills are a nice myth but they don't operate overseas. The real shills serve a very different purpose: they are hired by local governments to cheat the central government into giving them promotions, by showing the central government comments from "happy citizens".
Oh I'm sure they operate in even greater numbers internally, but I'm equally sure China puts out as much foreign propaganda as they think they can get away with. "Sinophobia" in response to criticism of verified CCP actions in particular seems an attempt to weaponize the current cancel culture in the west.
Hell China did likewise to the Mongol tribes for centuries until Genghis Khan came along. It's not like sowing discord among one's rivals is a new or novel strategy, and while Hacker News might be intelligent enough on average to see through it the bulk of the internet lacks that sort of scrutiny. Suggesting China and America are moral equals might not carry much weight in America, maybe even Western Europe, but Africa? The Middle East? South America? China has certainly tried more radical operations in the past, posting a swarm of "nudge" posts on social media to try and inch world opinion its way seems like an easy call if I were the Chinese propaganda ministry.
I think it is quite ironic that on the one hand you completely dismiss sinophobia as a concept, and on the other hand you cite pre-Ghenis Khan times as the reason for being wary of 21st century China.
Once again withe the non-arguments and strawmen. These exchanges do nothing but prove my point.
Criticizing the CCP's actions in Hong Kong, for example, is not sinophobic. Criticizing their treatment of the Uighurs is not sinophobic, and criticizing their attempts at intelligence collection and propaganda is not sinophobic. Yet all have been called such at some point in Hacker News comments in recent posts.
And my point was that the strategy of sowing discord among one's rivals is thousands of years old and been proven effective. Would you prefer the example of the British in the Middle East? To suggest that the current CCP is unaware of or uninterested in promoting such a strategy is laughable.
Also, CCP shills are a nice myth but they don't operate overseas. The real shills serve a very different purpose: they are hired by local governments to cheat the central government into giving them promotions, by showing the central government comments from "happy citizens".