Neither citizenry has any meaningful control over "their" spy agencies. They're not your favourite sports team that you need to defend. If you harbour any illusions of democratic control: the elected class is a lot smaller and a few degrees more stable than the candidate pool. Before they get access to power, candidates tend to renounce any action against the NSA.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/jul/14/...
But qualitative statements are of literally no value. It's all gut instinct. Of course you'd like to think that the US can take moral high ground over the Chinese.
What we're discussing is the subjective perception of both agencies. NSA has most of their programs exposed, as opposed to the PLA, and yet the public still gives NSA the benefit of the doubt. Now that's what I call freedom.