Might makes right. The USA keeps its territories since it has more force than others. Be that its base in Cuba or the islands it has overseas.
As I am sure you are aware, the British had both Hong Kong and some mainland territories since the end of the Opium Wars. One was permanent, the other just rented. So it was always going to come to and end.
You're ashamed? Good for you. I take it that you're going to do nothing more than write you're ashamed about this state of affairs. And what, exactly, would Britain have done had China decided to cut off the water supply from the mainland? Build massive desalination plants?
The Britain was and is a small power with limited ability to project beyond its shores. We could either graciously give it back or tenaciously fight against the inevitable with no treaty when China finally won.
And let's look at the Commonwealth: Pakistan. Bangladesh. Burma. Zimbabwe. Egypt. And so on and so on. There are
very few members of the commonwealth that are "proper" democracies - Canada, New Zealand, Australia being the best examples, countries of the Caribbean others and India and Malaysia aren't
too bad.
Hong Kong got shafted since a bigger, nastier power took over. A shame. Move on.
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