Cathay Pacific fires cabin crew over alleged discrimination against passenger from China
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/24/business/cathay-pacific-china-passenger-discrimination-intl-hnk/index.html
Even if we ignore the political issues between Mainland China and Hong Kong, it's not ethically allowed to make fool of passengers English.
So, I think it's not appropriate to conclude that Cathey Pacific took severe action just to keep ties with Beijing.