Im very interested in an officially supported linux phone, however the fitmware seems not to be upstream(yet?). I hope it will be upstreamed, or else were back to square one with linux mobile hardware support if they stop working on it!
Hong Kong only recently became part of China. (This was not correct, it became part of China in 1997). I'm sure the protests are fresh in people's minds still. If anywhere would want private phones it would be HK.
China didn't "conquer" anything. They had an agreement that would keep them independent until a certain date and that date passed. So HK now belongs to China, as was agreed.
I was a little misinformed, it turns out HK has belonged to China since 1997, and the recent protests were just because of some policy changes that make China's influence stronger in regards to their ability to extradite people into mainland China.