Nope not confused at all. Just trying to put things into historical perspective.
I'm talking about the mid 1980's.
At that time the Chinese market was trivial and difficult. Cathay threw it to KA as a fillip in order to cement the one airline one route policy. i.e. throw the underdog a seemingly poisoned chalice while you make off with the gold.
The real goal in those days was to keep KA from long-haul competition with CX. And that is exactly what was done.
You may not remember this far back - but KA was one of the group of launch customers for the MD11. It was ordered to fly long-haul competition with CX. However, that aircraft order was cancelled when the duplicitious British Colonial Government instituted the one airline one route policy to the great benefit (suspiciously so) of the Swire Group.
Consequently, with it's raison d'etre ravaged, KA fell on hard times and was ultimately rescued from oblivion by CX. However - it is important to remember that one action preceded the other. In fact, one action was calculated to precipitate the other.
Having isolated KA for the best part of 15 years (as a compliant feeder operation to deal with the difficult Chinese market) it is disingenuous of CX and their apologists to try to take the high moral ground and act like the saviours of KA. You are inferring that KA are ungrateful and given to biting the hand that feeds them. In fact, they are just trying to go full circle, back to their original ambitions of the 1980's.
I am a proponent of the liberalisation of the Hong Kong airline industry. That is, both KA and CX competing. However, just as the USA is talking big about 'free skies' at the moment because they have the market power to dwarf their rivals, so I believe that a true quid pro quo attitude will entrench CX and destroy KA given their relative sizes. No one would argue (except the Americans) that free skies is a good thing if it actually results in American airlines supremacy by stealth. A similar corollory exists in this debate.
Cathay has conspired in the past to hobble KA. This has lead to a massive size and wealth disparity between the Companies. CX cannot now demand equality in expansion because to do so would ensure the demise of KA. This would reward past skullduggery and reinforce the adage that might is right.