I'm not sure I understand your opinion at all here. The protesters don't want to impact Mainland Chinese citizens lives whatsoever.
The demands are pretty clear and not at all an attempt to become the US/UK or fundamentally change Chinese culture. HK already views itself as culturally, economically, and politically separate from China. There is an agreement between HK and Mainland China to allow them to function independently for 50 years and that is not being upheld, or at least that is what is perceived by people in HK.
The rest of the stuff you are saying is moot once you recognize those key factors. They don't want anything for China, they want HK to be allowed to do what it's supposed to be allowed to do; govern itself without interference, which was agreed to by both parties.
> There is an agreement between HK and Mainland China to allow them to function independently for 50 years and that is not being upheld, or at least that is what is perceived by people in HK.
Yeah because if you wait 50 years, HK isn't going to want to be a part of a dictatorship communist regime when they've been democratic for the past hundred years. China needs to ignore the agreement and ratchet down hard now if they hope to keep HK.
Sure, but that's not the agreement both parties entered into. You can't simply go back on an agreement because you decide halfway through you won't like the results at the end (obviously China is testing that theory, so maybe you can). It's simply not in good faith.
Obviously the move from China makes logical sense from their perspective, but that means that the protests are equally logical from the HK side.
The demands are pretty clear and not at all an attempt to become the US/UK or fundamentally change Chinese culture. HK already views itself as culturally, economically, and politically separate from China. There is an agreement between HK and Mainland China to allow them to function independently for 50 years and that is not being upheld, or at least that is what is perceived by people in HK.
The rest of the stuff you are saying is moot once you recognize those key factors. They don't want anything for China, they want HK to be allowed to do what it's supposed to be allowed to do; govern itself without interference, which was agreed to by both parties.