In most of the West we have the luck of being born in democratic countries, we mostly don't have to lift a finger or risk anything to defend that. And yet, we increasingly elect dangerous morons like Trump, Le Pen, etc. to positions of power, which doesn't say much about our collective political intelligence. In China, defending political changes entails both personal risk and risk to the country itself (placing a country that is working very well economically and increasing its power into a political turmoil with uncertain results). I honestly don't think we are in a position to lecture them about this kind of things.
You will find pockets of creativity everywhere in China.
Chinese culture does emphasize group innovation more than individual innovation/invention. This leads to very different results, taking the edge/risk off many ideas (as any consensus driving process would). But it isn't really limited by that, you can always get away with more as long as no one is watching closely.
In China everyone's being watched and listened to. Foreigners like me are being watched closely, and locals are watching each other far more than occurs in Western countries (like Australia). Even just the general awareness that people are likely to be watching tends to modify behavior.
And of course it's easy for people to watch and listen nowadays. Modern phone/internet technology is being actively used. Bugs don't even need to be inside someone's apartment nowadays for others to listen in. Cameras can be so small it's virtually impossible to find them.
But some people in the West are just as involved in surveillance as occurs in China, particular people in business who protect their cash flows and power structures.
I think, it's rather the other way around. When people have been innovative and new social classes with economical power have emerged, they start to seek political power as well to maintain their economical power.
Of course, being innovative in a society where being innovative is not seen as a positive trait, you'll have problems regardless of what political system you are in.
So I would rather try to change the cultural arena than the political. I know, that's hard and almost impossible on a short timescale but I think especially the Chinese government doesn't have a problem with working in larger timescales.
I had to train Chinese people myself in China, and I don't know if you can innovate in the sciences without first innovating in the political arena. You have to change the mind of most Chinese and this takes generations.
I mean, if someone is intelligent enough to solve very hard problems, it is intelligent enough to know they first have to remove the chumps in power who makes bad decisions. There are lots of chumps in power in China.
Chinese educated in Canada, Europe or USA could improve the research done in China, but this people is equally dangerous to people in power.
When I was there, it was the beginning of the Chinese bubble, everybody was happy because everything, while bad, was improving. When times get tough, we will see.