Leftists aren't immune to imperialism, in fact probably most leftists in the US tacitly support various imperial efforts. Have you seen leftist discourse on HK?

Also it's not about converting me, it's about pushing back against a cultural feeling that will then be used to further justify imperial action.

Leading up to the Iraq war I'm sure tons of leftists in "leftist spaces" were talking about how Saddam is a bad dude and fuck Iraq, etc. In fact I know they were, and in fact those same leftists were also writing articles about it.

If you're in the west, you can't affect China's domestic policy but you can contribute to the cultural mood of your own country, so it's a lot more important to PUSH BACK AGAINST EMPIRE than it is to make sure all of your buddies know you're being maximally logically coherent by acknowledging all the goody good marks of one country as well as another. We don't need an accurate pros and cons list of each, we need a real coordinated pushback against Clinton and co's "Pacific Century."