“Hong Kong was losing their independence before corona.”
Hong Kong was never independent. Before it was returned to China, it was ruled undemocratically by the UK for over 150 years.
China has never seen real democracy. Chiang Kai-Shek was basically a fascist who allied with the Nazis until the Nazis threw him under the bus. Prior to that, warlords ruled different parts of China undemocratically, and there was no democracy under the Emperors or under Japanese occupation.
And the Communists have been worse than all of these.