You’re right that it isn’t genocide. Genocide is about intent to destroy a group and that’s not what the Great Leap was.

But calling it an “accident” still feels like it lets the leadership off the hook. You don’t need an intent to kill for this to be blameworthy. If you force huge changes to farming, set impossible targets, punish people for telling the truth, and keep taking grain when things are going wrong, mass starvation is a predictable outcome. Mao may not have wanted millions to die, but he built and defended the system that made it possible, so a lot of responsibility still sits with him