I believe Cathay Pacific doesn't symbolize Hong Kong Airline at all. It's found by an Australian and an American who started an airline based in Hong Kong.
Even now, most upper level managers are not even Chinese... So what makes it a Hong Kong Airline? I believe CX wanted to hire cadets from foreign country for the longest time.
"ps, lots of cadets are Eurasian, or ABC (American born chinese),or CBC (Canadian born chinese) anyways...'