Power plants and water treatment coming from the PRC is a result of history, so one cannot just look at the current state of affairs and conclude that no other

Power plants and water treatment coming from the PRC is a result of history, so one cannot just look at the current state of affairs and conclude that no other outcomes were possible. As with anywhere in the world, the water and electricity comes from where it comes because it's the most economical solution, not because it's the only solution. I'm just trying to make the point that had an empire still been in control of HK, things would have looked very different, but that's not the case so they don't. There's nothing inherently with HK's connection to mainland that makes it impossible for it to be self-sustaining, but there was never a point, or an economical or political will to do so. The most obvious comparison to HK is Singapore, which is now a free state and has its own military, together with being one of the top financial spots in Asia. Yet the history is not that different from Hong Kong. The different outcomes are not down to the simple fact that HK Island is a barren rock that would be technically impossible to sustain independently, but a complex result of geopolitics which today makes it impossible to release from the grasp of China.