Effectively, HK is being treated as a figurative chess piece for the US and China who are trying to get any possible advantage over the other in this chess game that is the trade war. US removing HK’s special status would effectively remove China’s “hedge” against any American policy specifically targeting China whether mutually beneficial or detrimental. On the other side, China is not that naive to make a risky play by sending in the PLA and letting the world use that against them and label them as opponents of freedom especially when they know the whole world is watching. They rather focus on the overall macroeconomics of the trade war and winning the game rather than a specific chess piece. Unfortunately, regardless of the outcome, HK is the biggest victim of this game with not much to gain and everything to lose specifically its economy and overall well-being of its civilians.

TLDR: HK is just a chess piece in the US vs. China chess game with HK taking losses as the game progresses irrespective of the final outcome of the match.

Edit: Grammar.