> God forbid a Chinese citizen support their own government.

Does flagging stories highlighting "tank man" search results count as "supporting the Chinese government"?

That's a weird kind of "support".

I think you can be impressed by the economic progress China has through without denying reality.

Indeed, I do respect that such economic progress certainly isn't a given.

OP didn't say that there aren't any Chinese citizens who genuinely support their own government - only that said government is well-known for organized brigading by its agents. Including in China itself, I must add, so it affects plenty of Chinese citizens, too.

When you say support their own government you should remember that it's not their own government. They don't have any choice in who represents them unless they are one of the 9% of the population that is a member of the CCP.

Rank and file CCP members don't really get any meaningful choice, either - intraparty governance be nominally democratic, but in practice it's as much of a sham as outside of it. The only way you can have a say is by making a party career to some position that actually matters, which very few members will achieve. The rest are there solely to signal their loyalty and get the associated benefits (or lack of handicaps).