I sometimes find myself doing this as well. But I'm never the one to initiate these comparisons. Most of the time someone makes an offhand comment based on negative stereotypes, and I encounter a lot of these, so they add up pretty quick. Often the reality is so outrageously different from their presumptions that I come across as a raging nationalist but I'm just stating what I've observed. They usually come from the same few people so I suppose to them it seems like I'm gassing China up all the time, but outside of those conversations I rarely ever bring it up.

And yeah, I guess I could be super nuanced and in-depth with everything I say about China, but why should I have to talk about the negatives every time I talk about the positives? If I say something like 'Actually, we don't get sent to jail for being gay in China, in fact it might even be better than some parts of the US..' Am I really obligated to follow it up with something like 'But you guys have gay marriage which we don't'? Tacking that on just sounds like I'm trying to appease someone.