If that's the case, the distinction was subtle enough for me to miss, and probably a lot of others. It isn't hard to say "the Chinese government" if that's what parent meant. Instead saying "the Chinese" in response to an article about a Chinese company's product is clearly ambiguous. I don't see how it's okay to gratuitously say anything about "the Chinese" as if that was somehow a valid, well defined and understood group that warrants being judged and stereotyped in such a wide manner.

But it blurs the distinction and it normalizes thinking about the Chinese people and the Chinese gov't in similar ways. Honestly I think it's irresponsible and naive - let's not pretend there isn't a rising undercurrent of anti-Chinese sentiment in the West.

All the rising anti-Chinese sentiment I've seen seems mostly geopolitical and not ethnic.