Even China is more well-liked than America abroad

Not sure what they're implying when they say even China's better in terms of image abroad. I suppose this is due to the inbalance in media, which has probably portrayed China as the bigger ogre compared to the U.S.

The People's Daily no doubt pounced on this story. However, they didn't mention this (from IHT):

Strong majorities in several countries said they would like to see another military power emerge to balance the United States - but most, especially in the West, did not want this to be China.

"There's really strong opposition to the idea of China rivaling American military power," Kohut said, "even though most of the world doesn't like the fact the U.S. is a military hegemon."

Seven in 10 of those surveyed in Britain, France and Russia opposed a rising Chinese superpower, as did approximately 8 in 10 Germans and Americans. But the idea was much more popular in developing countries: Majorities in Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan and Turkey were in favor.

Could it be that China's grooming of the "vanguard of the developing world" is paying off in terms of international relations?

No doubt, China hasn't quelled worries of China rising as a military power because of their human rights record. It seems that finger pointing at the U.S or saying that the world should not "interfere with its internal affairs" just isn't acceptable to the rest of the developed world just yet.

Since world politics is run by the developed, industrialised countries, China would want to improve their human rights records in their books. Difficult to balance this with their desire to maintain monopoly on power. It's not simply the issue of western democracy or multi-party votes, it's probably more to do with the fact that China has undergone rapid economic reforms since the 80's, yet political reforms nowhere matches this pace. Corruption is a rampant problem, and they lack the transparent institutions to deal with the dark aspects of capitalism. Hence, they continue to rely on instilling fear through the death penalty to curb the problem. Evidently, this has not been so effective.