They have not slashed the program or number of countries allowed to participate at all.

Those 5 specifically named countries have always been the same and their requirements have somewhat differed from the general requirements, e.g. number of visits required (if any at all), applicants minimum age etc.

They have actually made it easier for everybody else by reducing the required prior visits to two (2) and extending the time period to 24 months. So basically visiting HKG once a year is enough to be considered "frequent visitor".