For a country with long-standing issues with transparency and free-speech, China's done a good job of reforming that reputation in the last little while. Granted, it's easier to look good when your comparables are failing so spectacularly. It's hard, for example, to look like an uncaring government compared to how Burma's junta has completely botched relief efforts there. And even though I've been disappointed with the level of censorship that I've encountered here in the news and internet, at least China's not Russia, where they'll edit you out of TV appearances if you say something they don't like. Seems to me like the state-run media there is at least as repressive than it is here. Through either direct ownership or Gazprom, the government controls three of the main TV stations and several of the largest newspapers.
Russia's becoming more and more like the Russia of old (i.e. the USSR) and nobody is batting an eyelash. I've said it before, but really, would China get off this easy if it was the focus of a similar story?
I think the difference is simply that people are more scared of a strong, united China than it is of a similarly positioned Russia. A billion people can generate a lot of momentum. Just look at how strong and cohesive the Chinese response to the Wenchuan earthquake has been.
4 years ago
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I think that Russia only gets overlooked because it is relatively cooperative with the Western powers. Sure we'll hear a dissenting Putin comment on Iraq or what not, but by and large they stay the course, keep the economy rolling and don't rock the boat. My Russian co-worker is a huge Putin fan, in fact, and doesn't really a see a problem with centralized power. Really no different than what local Chinese feel about the CCP, I presume (but I may be wrong).
In my opinion, the real issue with China has its roots in the global economy. China's economy is really rocking the boat, with massive trade deficits spurred on by an uncompromising monetary policy. That plus your standard American xenophobia (those Russians could almost pass for Americans!) with a mix of human rights concerns, and you have front page stories left and right. I really don't think anything would change if China did let everybody have complete freedom and open up entirely. As the up and coming world economic power, they'd still be the bad guy as the U.S. unwillingly falls back to the pack.
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