What's the point of this liberty you speak of if we don't use it to criticize our own governments, and why stop at just criticism? The truth is you'll only realize how thin your liberty actually is when you actually pose a threat.

You're conflating a comparison with an endorsement.

One can say the US is unquestionably better than China while still acknowledging the US has issues.

I'd challenge you to find any country that's truly "trustworthy." That doesn't mean I think it's impossible, I just think historically humans suck at governorship.

As for what's different between the US and China, your original point, I think a lot of it is just what's available/who has the better deal. The US historically has the better innovations, the better weaponry, and in the case of Europe, bidirectional cultural influences, and there's just a lot more history with the US as a partner and a lot more families with folks in both locations.