Just because one state is also shitty to dissenters does not mean another state isn’t. They don’t cancel each other out.
Dissident is pretty vague, probably on purpose. As much as I dislike the US government, I can say the government here is shit and not get hauled to jail for the most part. The same is not necessarily true in China
I did imply the US is better, and I probably should not have. And even in that I did not mean the government doesn’t do horrific things. Probably should not have made the comparison TBH. That doesn’t mean China doesn’t also do horrific shit, even if the way they do it is different
Escaping Xi’s China by paddleboard: ‘I rushed into the water and thought if they catch me, they catch me’ (www.theguardian.com)