Who in their right mind would go to the US? The only reason dfat (Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trace) is still categorising the USA as "Exercise normal safety precautions" is because of geopolitics.

It's wild that we rank it above other destinations.

I would choose China over the US to travel to, any day of the week, and have multiple times.

China is massively authoritarian, no doubt, but they're not going through random travellers social media posts. Even if you've posted negative things about China (watch Polymatter's video on Chinese censorship, if you're curious)

I mean, unless you're actively and famously criticising the Chinese government. In which case, probably don't travel there and be accused of being a spy or something 😅

In any case, I feel much, much safer travelling to China than the US.