IMHO you have more freedom in China than in Europe. Can you walk on the street and say "Fuck Xi Jinping" like you would in France with Macron? Probably not. But it's a completely useless freedom to have.
At least in China you get relative safety when you walk on the street at night. And when the government decides to restrict some liberties you don't have to pay tens of thousands of politicians and lobbyist to do it.
If you have to choose your poison pill, you might as well pick the cheap one that does bring a semblance of harmony and not complete polarization and chaos.
If you shout insults at Macron, you will be prosecuted. If you display insults about Macron, you will be prosecuted.
https://www.rue89strasbourg.com/insulte-macron-selestat-mani...
https://www.ouest-france.fr/societe/justice/un-homme-de-77-a...
You see, China and the US aren't that different you know. In the US, I can go up to Donald Trump and say "I don't like Donald Trump. The policies of the republican government are rubbish!"
In China, I can go up to Xi Jinping and say "I don't like Donald Trump! The policies of the republican government are rubbish!"
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Also it's never been true you could just approach the American president or the Chinese one