"The policy beats anything offered from both the EU-zone as well as the US by miles."
No, not really. The EU and the US provide visa-free travel to citizens of most developed countries. For Europeans, China allows visa-free travel only by citizens of San Marino, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Serbia.
And not to mention all the complicated ins-and-outs of the TWOV rules discussed at length in this thread.
Not exactly. Just about everybody except Canadians need the "visa waiver". Something that you need to apply and pay for ahead of time. My girlfriend, Australian, was denied boarding in Costa Rica for a flight transiting in the US because her visa waiver had been obtained by crossing the border by road and that one is not good for flying (after being told that it was ok by the immigration officer when we crossed by car). Thanks for the internet, we had time to get a new one online before the flight departure. It also means photos and fingerprinted every time that we transit. We always try to avoid a US transit when going somewhere.
And on a short transit (less than 24 hours) in China you don't need to go through immigration (although not always the case in Shanghai) but you always clear immigration on a transit in the US which can take forever.