because to many on both the left and right, anything out of China might as well be the work of demons or Nazis. The longstanding dream to dismember China has not been forgotten, there are very good reasons to never let the PLA's combat ability decline.
Most of the so-called liberals opposing waterboarding are he same ones opposing anything Chinese. Cognitive dissonance or plain old hypocrasy? Regardless, every Chinese should see what happened to Yugoslavia and not let the country sit on its laurels.