Got it thanks!
no wonder, it'd be frustrating getting a clueless agent on the other side of the line

Hi guys!
Was just now unable to use Asia Miles to redeem a one-way ticket on CX metal between two Mainland Chinese cities (e.g. something like TAO - HKG - CAN with a layover well within 24hrs), as a CS agent said that for ticketing purposes HKG is "[sic] a separate category" from Mainland China.
Didn't see that coming! Has anyone else faced this before?

What does separate "category" mean?

I had an amazing interaction with their Indian call centre regarding the upgrade of paid tickets and also changes to some redemption tickets, I had 6 ticekts in total. I called the CX DM hotline and was put thru to the Indian helpdesk station. The agent was amazing, I explained what I needed to do, asked if i could leave my request with them and if possible require a call back at a certain time the following day. The agent proceeded and I was called back the following day on the dot of my request time. Everything had been changed, emails were sent whilst on the phone with payment links, Very good and professional service. Defeinately have seen improvements.

Are you sure it's the "MSC Mumbai" call centre, not Manila?

it was the Mumbai hub. very professional and friendly - appears when dialing thru you will hit the "wheel" which randomly allocates the call to either HK, Manila, G'Zhou or Mumbai. I had reached the agent in Mumbai who was able to directly call me back the following day. Hope this clarifies.

CX's redemption T&Cs state (to the effect) that:
- if you have two flights;
- where the first port of dep. & last port of arr. are different cities;
- all segments are within the same country/region; &
- the layover is within 24hrs,
then your two flights can be redeemed together within the same standard award booking.

However the CS said (to the effect) that since for CX redemption ticket issuing purposes HKG is in "a separate category" to China, they are unable to issue one single redemption ticket between two Chinese cities with a layover of any duration in HKG.

Wonder what they mean by 'region' too! Could be intepreted as the 'Asian' region too?

it was the Mumbai hub. very professional and friendly - appears when dialing thru you will hit the "wheel" which randomly allocates the call to either HK, Manila, G'Zhou or Mumbai. I had reached the agent in Mumbai who was able to directly call me back the following day. Hope this clarifies.