POS18 has nothing to do with what other airlines pay or what it costs to live in HKG. It is entirely about total control over the work force and about paying the minimum to crew a flight. The recent adjustment is a calculated amount to tweak attrition to a level acceptable to their models for pilot recruitment, training and termination.
Everyone knows we are loosing too many pilots, but we will never have a shortage, we will just not activate air frames we can't operate.