Kinda worse? That's highly debatable. It's just a different risk profile. I personally don't expect the US government to take an interest in my activities, but

Kinda worse? That's highly debatable. It's just a different risk profile. I personally don't expect the US government to take an interest in my activities, but I'm not as convinced about the Chinese for various reasons. More to your point, as far as I'm aware, individuals can't be forced under law to cooperate with US intelligence. In China, individuals have to cooperate - by law - and the penalties for non-compliance are harsh. In the case of an open source project maintained by individuals, that's an important consideration.