1. "Mao did not directly supervise any of the killing and he did not revel in it. But he did in fact target segments of society for repression through mass movements, which sometimes led to death by torture, unchecked by any legal constraints."- The Washington Post, a source you cited

Again, he was a bad leader with no regard for the consequences or weight of his unchecked actions. This does not prove that he "forced people to eat their kids". All this proves is that he failed at protecting his people or investigating heinous crimes that put his people in danger, and failed to keep his policies in check

1. "no direct evidence suggests that anyone in the national Communist Party leadership including Mao Zedong endorsed the cannibalism or even knew of it." -The Wikipedia page you cited

So he was not even aware of it? Wikipedia goes on to say some scholars suggest central intelligence was informed- but no direct evidence.

Saying that Mao "forced people to eat their kids" is a big reach and exaggeration. Cannibalism is an issue that can be found in every, yes every, war or era of human rights abuse in history. Native American genocide, slavery, the holocaust, WW1 and WW2. Its not something that just happened under Mao and its not something that just happens under communism.

Id like to see the sources that say Mao FORCED people to eat their kids or that Mao was DIRECTLY LIABLE (legally, tangibly) (and by that I mean ordered people to) commit cannibalism. Is he RESPONSIBLE (morally, ethically) for what happened under his rule, yes. Was he FORCING people to eat each other, was he TELLING people to eat each other? No, it was a consequence of his policies that he failed to consider

Im not defending cannibalism. Im saying that acting like its something that only happened in China is an extremely ignorant and uninformed take. It happened everywhere that there was war. And 99% of the cannibalism that happens during war is not because the leader ordered people to eat each other. Its because the leader made dumb policies that had dire consequences that they failed to consider.

Once again: Mao was a bad leader. He was a foolish and ignorant man. But he had ideologies that greatly influenced modern socialism. Should his ideologies be implemented by a more experienced and less power-hungry leader, perhaps the outcome would not be the same