What’s with the parsing words? Are we playing what “is, is”?
A “any-state” is a State = a country.
Hong Kong was a part of the UK. Singapore was the same until they separated, then they were a State or Country. Hong Kong went from UK to PRC, nothing in between.
Monaco, Singapore, and Vatican City are considered Sovereign city-states, not countries. Hong Kong and Macau are Non-sovereign city-states. Ceuta and Melilla are sort of in limbo.