All of the pro-China downvoters on this and many other HN threads.... I do not understand you. I recall from my political sciences courses in university that a hallmark of progressivism was being against imperialism. The basic idea here is that imperialism involves deliberately expanding a government's control of physical territory through violence, subjugation, cultural appropriation, theft, and many other means.

The idea why imperialism is a moral BAD was that it inextricably involves suppressing the human rights of others.

Now, China is an imperialist power. Full stop. It wants more land and more people. It has killed and is killing to get more land and more people.

The same cannot be said of the US.

So why the constant whataboutism on China issues here on HN?