Exactly. My point in making the initial comment was not to defend China, but simply to attempt to prevent the knee-jerk "America has great institutions" jingoi

Exactly. My point in making the initial comment was not to defend China, but simply to attempt to prevent the knee-jerk "America has great institutions" jingoism that is such a common reaction to stories about corruption in foreign governments. But as can be seen from my comment being brutally down voted, the force of jingoism is very strong.