> As democratic as the US is or isn't, its government does not answer to me. China one also doesn't. So, what difference does it make?

That seems like an absolutely absurd comparison. The US government is elected, if enough of the population cared about the issue (and who knows, as it gets worse, they might) the government can be held accountable at the ballot box. The same is in no way true in China.

Are you assuming that parent is an American voter? Or that the Americans will protect the rest of the world with their votes - even when it's counter to "American Interests"?

Going with the copyright theme: most American voters would have been happy with the copyright provisions of the trans-atlantic treaty since that increased "shareholder value" that would benefit their 401k's.

The difference is how that surveillance is used. Right now you my not have any personal contact with China, so you might not care what the do to their own citizens. I might have taken the same stance in 2001 before meeting the girl who would later become my wife, who was a Chinese citizen. Since then I’ve travelled to China for work, completely independently of any family connection. A relative, child or grandchild of yours could work in China, marry a Chinese partner. I could go on.

Even aside from that, China is actively exporting their political and economic model all over the world. They are using economic investments and financial grants to companies, institutions and cultural organisations as leverage to stifle criticism, and silence factual reporting of events in China all over the world, and almost certainly in your own country too.

For better or worse (I’d argue worse but that’s irrelevant) China has explicitly stayed out of foreign countries’s politics. That’s one reason why so many dictators and corrupt governments are willing to work with them. China, unlike the US or the EU, has decided the political oppression a country’s leader practices is none of their concerns. They just want to do business.