The access from mainland to HK goes through the firewall, the access from HK to the normal internet is unrestricted as far as I know. The communication between the two VMs still needs to be obfuscated and encrypted. The only reason for the VM inside the Chinese Internet is higher bandwidth.
HK "outside" the firewall, for now. It's where you would place the outside VM.
But does access to HK go throught the firewall?
The access from mainland to HK goes through the firewall, the access from HK to the normal internet is unrestricted as far as I know. The communication between the two VMs still needs to be obfuscated and encrypted. The only reason for the VM inside the Chinese Internet is higher bandwidth.