This is an interesting analogy but, I think, only partially correct. While China is formally more authoritarian than the US this is viewed as administering via professionals and is supported by the majority of Chinese. This is a result of millennia of imperial rule under the principle of moral responsibility and obligation. This doesn’t always work and sometimes falls apart completely but that is true of all human organizations.

In reality the Chinese system is obviously prone to official abuse and active oppression of minorities (the Uighurs now) is a very large problem. In America the pretense of rights and ‘democracy’ are well known as illusions hiding racist and authoritarian rule based on wealth and massive imperial military power. In reality there is relatively little difference but with strong arguments that America may now be more corrupt than China.