It's also important to keep in mind that China has less than a quarter of the per capita prison population as the US. If you're talking about who's a police state, the US and China just aren't in the same universe.

Or from another direction, China has 4x the population of the US, and still has fewer people in prison.

1. That is under the assumption that the Chinese government is releasing accurate data. I assume international entities are not granted access to Chinese prison facilities directly, but I could be wrong.

2. There are 'alternative' ways of dealing with suspects and criminals other than prison sentences. And on that note, if China has a lower per capita prison population than the US, then it makes China having the highest rate of capital punishments even worse.

That's more on an indictment of multiculturalism as opposed to cultural homogenization though, which I imagine many here would furiously oppose the latter.