> I wonder why the West doesn’t just take it back
Speaking as an ex-HK resident, it's very simple: For the last 30+ years, it has not been in the UK's national interest to start a war with the PRC for HK, and I can't really blame them.
Independence? Forget troops, China need only close the valves on the pipes they use to sell HK water. Dress it up as false-flag sabotage.
I actually did the math once, and shipping in HK's water usage is the volume of the biggest oil-tankers in existence (which would somehow need to be converted to store/pump clean water) and making such an elephantine delivery every single day through a likely Chinese blockade.
