In terms of media strategy, I think, China is adapting well. It still needs some work but I think the overall direction isn't bad. Prior to 2012 or so, China used an ineffective media strategy. The less said about that the better. Since then, China has been slowly adopting a "dangerous bad boy" strategy, and I like it.
The US has a "Hollywood superhero" strategy where they portray themselves as flawless and invincible. They want to show themselves as infalliable, rich and great. The "dangerous bad boy" strategy is to market yourself to developing countries and developed country counterculture, dissidents and niche fandoms to gain (political) strategic depth, disrupt opponent moves and build a base for further offensives. It is much cheaper than the "Hollywood superhero" strategy, because the "Hollywood superhero" must maintain an aura of invincibility at all times while the "dangerous bad boy" only has to figuratively show the middle finger to the superhero.
It is the media equivalent of Mao's strategy of 农村包围城市. Here, 农村 is the developing world and the dissident counterculture of developed countries. It is much easier to sell your ideas to them: the developing world has equal or lower GDP/capita than China, so Chinese ideas are more relatable. China correctly positioned itself as a defender of the developing world and an anti imperialist, which is factually true.
People in developing countries don't care about high minded abstract ideas. They like the themes of Chinese media which is about family, honor, climbing up in the world, and dealing with fast paced change.
As for the western counterculture, China provides them an alternative. Note how in the 90's with the removal of Soviets and Japanese as counterculture powers, the counterculture was strongly diminished. Now with economic and cultural competition heating up, it is making a comeback both on the left (DSA) and on the right (alt right). Russia has a role to play with the right wing counterculture that China can't replicate, but
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Even wolf warriors diplomats are part of the strategy as part of the "dangerous bad boy" persona. Think about North Korea. Their diplomats are seen as unhinged paper tigers. But because they still bite on occasion, they're treated as real tigers. This leads to drawbacks when trying to negotiate, but in every instance of claimed "wolf warrior" diplomacy, it has always been the other side instigating and China responding, so negotiation is already useless. Instead every time China strongly stands up to the oppressors instead of quietly refuting, China gets credit in the developing world and with the western counterculture.
