Isn't that just because the U.S. has strategic and economic interests to put pressure on China (and otherwise could not give less ducks about democracy, morals, or Hong Kongers for that matter.

Especially since they don't have and historically didn't also have any problem with all kinds of dictators, right wing governments, etc. (from Suharto and Pinochet to UAE), as long as they were allies.

The thing about the Hong Kong annexation is that the same thing that threatens Americans' moral preferences is also bad for business; it doesn't actually matter why you value Hong Kong's legal sovereignty, because the stakes are the same.