This is clearly a very bad direction for China in itself. Most people reading this instinctively want a "but", and this is one that I can provide that applies to China and Russia (though Russia is really much freer than China):

Western critiques of China and Russia are directed at the regime, but if the regime collapses, there is no on to criticize, but people still suffer. That is, the Western critique is not fully utilitarian: it criticizes the regime for taking measures to ensure stability, without considering the consequences of the regime losing control.

For reference, about 70 million Chinese died after the collapse of the Qing dynasty (caused in part by Western intervention, by the Opium wars), and Russian life expectancy reduced significantly during the power vacuum between the fall of communism and the rise of Putin.

This gives some background on why both countries support their governments: they want stability and strong central government because they know the alternative.

If Westerners want to adopt a moral and convincing approach to human rights in China and Russia, they need to explain how these things can exist without causing a collapse of law and order that would be worse for the ordinary citizen. This would require reigning in the CIA so that countries could loosen the reigns without fear of a color revolution or Arab spring.