Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership - a trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam
I think part of it is, in table tennis China is so dominant that it allows more Chinese competitors. I don’t think HK competes in anything else. It’s like if they allowed Texas to compete as its own country in flag football (yes, that will be an Olympic event in 2028).
CPTPP and EU is ridiculous. There are a bunch of non-countries, pseudo-countries, and countries under "free association" participating though so IDK why you're circling Hong Kong when you could also be questioning all of these:
American Samoa
Aruba
Bermuda
British Virgin Islands
Cayman Islands
Chinese Taipei
Cook Islands
Federated States of Micronesia
Guam
Hong Kong, China
Individual Neutral Athletes (AKA a handful of Russians and Belarusians)