Wow, that's pretty interesting. The board meetings should be really interesting after this deal closes. SWIRE, Air China, Qatar, all would seem to have a separate interest in how to pillage earnings and dividends from Cathay. Unless ~318k shares does not buy you a board seat.
Or, tin foil hat theory:
Qatar, as a country, has some of RMB bonds issued to pay for the World Cup Stadiums and a license to buy Chinese financial instruments directly within China (it is a rarely issued license); so as a favor back to China, QR buys shares of CX and promises to vote in line with the China-linked & Air China board seats from now on.