I think your question is quite legitimate but I certainly don't lose any sleep over it.
Cathay Paciific and more specifically Swire Group are a part of the culture in Hong Kong. Cathay does all the right things from a political and business sense to thrive in what could become, as you point out, an adversarial environment. There is enough history and enough blurred heritage involved here that Cathay does not, to most people, represent a British Company. The Chinese like success and good old fashion capitalism. Swire group has all this in spades.
In my short time at Cathay I have just started to appreciate just how true the above statement is.
Also, if there were some overnight decree that all Cathay pilots now needed to be Chinese, the company as we know it would cease to exist.
Like most Cathay pilots, I plan to retire with this company. While there are no guarantees in aviation, I feel this is the number one company in the world to work for. As far as things to worry about go, I would think that a bird flu or SARS pandemic is at the top of the list, followed in no particular order by jet fuel prices, chinese-taiwanese war, north Korean Nuclear conflict, lo-cost airlines etc.
But on a positive note, Cathay is geographically located among nearly a quarter of the worlds population. As long as these people need to travel and ship their goods, I think we will be OK.
Enjoy your course in April.