HN has often had a decent contingent of first-generation Chinese immigrants / present Chinese citizens that are happy to defend policies that really don’t make sense in a framework defined with Western values.

I’m not surprised. Sad? A bit. It normalizes authoritarianism. But what are you going to do? I want to live in a globalized society and internet, and China is a huge portion of that, despite their best efforts to insulate their citizens from the world.