> Or you could have a country that respected the rule of law more than the CCP does (not a high bar), and was willing to accept the loss of control in return for the advantages of this kind of city.

Isn't the reason that Hong Kong has been vulnerable to increased mainland China control because it hasn't maintained many current advantages from the national government's point of view? Once mainland China was also full of wealthy and productive cities, the national government had less to lose by cracking down on Hong Kong.