I've been living in China for 10 years. I'm trying to think of what these extra freedoms Westerners living here are supposed have. Can you give specific examples?
Here's one, which this article touches upon: Being able to start a blog to vent any issues you find the government to be lacking in. If I started this here in Australia, I won't have government officials knocking at my door, let alone having the site blocked at a federal level.