the patriot act was the exact same justification, but this is somehow justified

This is the last and only thing I think should be mentioned. You miss or should I say refuse to acknowledge, right at the start, the fact that this isn’t the only thing China’s doing to counter extremism in Xinjiang.

If China did literally nothing else but pass a major surveillance law that achieves literaly nothing like the Patriot act then yes you’d have a point. But no, in the US case is not at all similar. The extremism isn’t native to Xinjiang, it was imported from groups like ETIM and then also exported to others through ISIS.

You said you were familiar with the details, this realy looks like you didn’t even know the basic facts about terrorism in Xinjiang. Congrats you got me to actualy link you an article

It is justified because it worked to save lives. We aren’t mad at the patriot act because it violated liberal values. We are mad because it kills people. It is kinda wild to me that you can see a good outcome and a bad outcome and not be able to tell which is better