People are sensitive when it comes to the sovereignty of their home countries even if they're not particularly fond of their governments. When I lived in China a lot of young, laissez-faire, liberal minded people who were critical of the increasingly repressive culture were nonetheless allergic to any kind of foreign encroachment.

The attitude is largely that, "our government may suck, but it is ours", and when foreign countries are perceived as strangling their development, you'll turn even the most raging regime critic into a reluctant supporter. And of course they don't view NATO or the rules based order or what have you as some benevolent thing, but tools of power.