Politics by nature is not private, it's always public. For those that claims as long as Cathay delivers, who cares, is ignorant and naive. The effect that Beijing has over a corporation's hiring and termination policies on Cathay, will also domino to other Hong Kong corporations if the corporations sees that it won't affect their bottom line. Cathay is setting a dangerous precedent by kowtowing to the emperor, who's next? HSBC? In the future corporations will no longer exist to provide the best service and products to the consumers, but rather, the highest priority is to do Beijing's bidding. Cathay already admits it uses cameras in cabins to monitor passengers during flight, will those data be hand over to Beijing? Will HSBC submit to Beijing and hand over personal information and details of every financial transactions? The precedent is set, we do whatever Beijing asks or we will be declared "unsafe" and bar from Chinese airspace/market, etc. So no, this isn't just about one's private political opinions, what Cathay is doing has serious public repercussions.