China

Depends how serious I think they are being.

If a genuine question and they are willing to learn, I will usually start with explaining the structure of the government in the given country and how leaders are elected. You do not need direct elections. Nor does democracy require having multiple political parties necessarily (though many countries they like to reference actually have more political parties than some western countries). Nor does the existence of multiple political parties mean the country is a democracy (Hi US). Nothing about the definition of a democracy says it requires multiple political parties or direct elections of a head of state.

In many AES states, a lot of issues are discussed and refined much earlier in the process. By the time something reaches the highest echelons of goverment, it has been reviewed and revised extensively. What might appear to outsiders as something just rumber stamped by the government has actually already been through the proverbial wringer, it wouldn't have got that far without widespread popular support.

If it is a private setting and they are just trying to "gotcha", I will probably just throw a meme at them and move on with my life because no amount of evidence to the contrary I show them would change their mind. It would be a waste of my time.

In a public venue and they are still doing the "gotcha" thing, I will probably engage like in the first example for the benefit of anyone else who might be listening/reading.