Ah yes we all remember when cx started employing pilots as 'contractors' to avoid tax, made pilots pay for their uniform, hotels, food and drink on board and £30,000 for a type rating and the privilege of being trained by r̶y̶a̶n̶a̶i̶r̶ cathay.
cx is far from perfect, but comparing it to ryanair is taking hyperbole to the extreme.
Cadets may be a cheap(er) way of crewing but at least cathay pays for their training in full, starts them off on a salary more than double that of ryanair cadets (who have already had to shell out £100k+ for training) and hire them as actual employees of the company meaning they're not just paid for the hours they fly.