• ijrepjournalism@gmail.com
  • contact@ij-reportika.com
Ij reportika Logo

Tag: Investigative Journalism

Sluggish property revenues hit Hong Kong fiscal reserves

Editor010 mins

Read RFA coverage of this topic in Cantonese. Falling revenue from land auctions — once a mainstay of the city’s fiscal strength — has hit Hong Kong government coffers hard in recent months, resulting in a spike in the fiscal deficit and dwindling fiscal reserves. Government expenditure between April and July topped HK$242.6 billion (US$31 billion), with revenue at just HK$90.1 billion (US$11.5 billion) over the same period, resulting in a cumulative year-to-date deficit of HK$135.4 billion (US$17.4 billion), the government said. The government reported a budget deficit of about HK$100 billion (US$12.8 billion) for the fiscal year that ended in March 2024, almost double its earlier estimate. The latest figures from April through July suggest it could be on track for an even larger hole in public finances in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. Hong Kong reported a budget deficit of HK$257.6 billion for the 2020-21 fiscal year, the largest deficit in 20 years, reflecting huge government expenditures during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Apartment blocks at Oi Man housing estate, May 8, 2024, in Hong Kong. (Dale De La Rey/AFP) But the deficit, which analysts say is mostly the result of reduced revenues from land auctions and recently cut stamp duties, hasn’t disappeared since then, largely due to a flagging property market and a post-lockdown economic slump. Fiscal reserves stood at HK$599.2 billion (US$76.8 billion) as of July 31, their lowest level in 14 years. However, the figures have taken into account proceeds and payouts on recent government bond transactions, the government said in an Aug. 30 statement. Fiscal obligations Hong Kong is obliged under its constitution, the Basic Law, to avoid deficits by keeping spending within revenue limits, yet the city has reported four deficits in the past five years. “The government has slowed down the supply of land to give the market time, but the Hong Kong property market is facing structural changes,” Joseph Ngan, former finance channel chief at i-CABLE News, wrote in a recent commentary for RFA Cantonese. “The effect of the stimulating measures at the beginning of this year has now worn off, and real estate prices have seen further downward pressure in recent months,” Ngan wrote. “This has impacted developers’ willingness to invest in land, and will eventually mean a huge fiscal deficit.” The situation has left some government departments charged with managing affordable housing and cultural assets in dire financial straits, including the Housing Authority, which runs the city’s public housing estates, and the Urban Renewal Authority, which spearheads urban redevelopment and refurbishment projects. Hong Kong apartment buildings, May 15, 2024. (Dale De La Rey/AFP) Such departments are now in need of fresh injections of capital, analysts said. The Housing Authority, which relies on public housing rentals and the sale of premium-free Home Ownership Scheme housing as its main income, is in a similar situation.  Revenue in recent years has been lower than expected, leaving the body with an operating surplus that shrank from HK$12.6 billion (US$1.6 billion) in 2023 to HK$2.6 billion (US$330 million). Public rental housing revenue is expected to move into the red this fiscal year, with a projected deficit of around HK$2.143 billion (US$276 million) next year.  Housing construction promised At the same time, the Hong Kong government has pledged to speed up construction of more than 10,000 subsidized housing units within the next five years, boosting annual construction expenditure by HK$10 billion (US$1.2 billion) to HK$40 billion (US$5 billion).  The authority has tried to staunch the losses by slashing discounts to its affordable Home Ownership Scheme private sector apartments from 62% last year to just 30% this year, but the move has made it harder to sell the apartments in what was already a difficult market. Financial commentator Simon Lee said the authority was forced to sell off some of its public housing assets in the wake of the Asian financial crisis of 1997. “The Housing Authority was the first to be affected when the real estate market froze during the 1997 financial crisis,” Lee said. “Public housing rentals can carry on when the market is strong, but Hong Kong is tied into the public policy model of real estate subsidies.” He said the government also holds a stake in train and subway operator MTRC, and subsidizes it to build housing and other developments on its land, and around stations. A worker walks past a large advertisement photo of a property project of the China Evergrande Group outside its local headquarters in Hong Kong, Oct. 4, 2021. (Vincent Yu/AP) Meanwhile, the Urban Renewal Authority has been issuing bonds in a bid to raise enough funds. “Exorbitantly high construction costs and high interest rates, coupled with high prices for previously acquired land … have put considerable pressure on the [Urban Renewal] Authority,” Joseph Ngan told RFA Cantonese’s Free to Talk Finance show. “The reversal in the real estate market has left a lot of property-related public bodies under tremendous pressure,” he said. Bond sale The Urban Renewal Authority’s recent triple-tranche HK$12 billion (US$1.5 billion) senior bonds offering under its US$3 billion Medium Term Note Programme will help to fund its capital expenditure on urban renewal projects and for general corporate purposes, the authority said in an Aug. 21 statement. The offering was well-received by a diverse group of high-quality local and overseas investors, including banks, asset managers, corporations, insurance companies, hedge funds, central banks, official institutions, family offices and private banks.  It had a peak combined orderbook of over HK$22.8 billion (US$2.9 billion), representing an oversubscription rate of around 2 times, the statement said. The bond sale came after the authority suffered its first loss in nine years in 2022/23, totaling more than HK$3.9 billion last year. Projected construction costs this year will run to HK$64.3 billion (US$8.2 billion), but current cash reserves are only HK$18 billion (US$2.3 billion). The authority has also been allowed to borrow up to HK$25 billion (US$3.2 billion) under government guarantees. Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by…

Read More

Vietnam defense minister Phan Van Giang visits US to boost ties

Editor09 mins

Updated Sept. 10, 2024, 07:03 a.m. ET. Vietnam’s minister of national defense Phan Van Giang is in the U.S. to bolster bilateral security cooperation amid rising tensions in the South China Sea. Vietnam is among the states that claim at least part of the waterway and it has been seeking to strengthen its maritime capabilities, including with purchases of defense technologies and equipment. Giang’s trip is his first official visit to the U.S. since he took office in April 2021. Hanoi and Washington upgraded their relations to the top tier of comprehensive strategic partnership in September 2023, during a visit by U.S. President Joe Biden to Vietnam. Yet their security and defense cooperation, deemed highly sensitive as the two countries fought each other in the past, remains limited and has focused mainly on the legacies of the Vietnam War, such as searching for American soldiers missing in action and decontamination of areas affected by toxic chemicals. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (R) welcomes Vietnamese Defense Minister Gen. Phan Van Giang (L) to the Pentagon in Washington, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf) Gen. Giang and his counterpart, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, had a meeting on Monday at the Pentagon, during which they “underscored the importance of working together to overcome war legacies,” according to a summary provided by the Department of Defense. They also “discussed opportunities to deepen defense cooperation, including on defense trade, industrial base resilience, and information sharing,” the department said without providing  further details. Shopping list According to the U.S. government, from 2016 to 2021, it authorized US$29.8 million – a relatively small amount – in defense articles to Vietnam via direct commercial sales. The Defense Department also has more than $118 million in active foreign military sales to Vietnam, mainly of trainer aircraft. This budget would be greatly expanded if Vietnam decided to procure more U.S. equipment, analysts say. “Defense equipment suppliers and subcontractors can expect increased demand for naval combatants, aerial defense, intelligence systems, and surveillance and reconnaissance equipment,” the U.S. government’s International Trade Administration said in its commercial guide. “Maritime security and air defense is where Vietnam has the biggest need, but I would expect Vietnam would start with maritime security first, as this dovetails with U.S. expectations,” said Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii “But there is no clear-cut distinction between maritime security and air defense. For example, aircraft, radars and missiles are essential in both,” Vuving told Radio Free Asia. RELATED STORIES Closer Vietnam-US ties not based on Beijing issues, says conference Vietnam hosts its first international defense expo Vietnam mulls law that may open market to foreign arms firms US Defense Secretary Austin Meets in Hanoi With Vietnamese Officials The United States and Vietnam signed in 2015 a so-called Joint Vision Statement on defense relations – their most important document setting out defense cooperation, in which maritime security was highlighted. The U.S. has given the Vietnam coast guard two Hamilton-class cutters – a third one is scheduled to be delivered in the near future – as well as tactical drones and patrol boats. Veteran regional military watcher Mike Yeo said that coast guard cutters “would be an obvious item” on Hanoi’s shopping list. “But another possibility is the approval for transfer of subsystems to Vietnam such as jet engines for Korean FA-50 light attack planes should Vietnam decide to buy them,” Yeo said.  “Vietnam hasn’t bought the FA-50 yet but it seems like a logical choice going forward and as the engine used is a U.S. design an export clearance will be needed for any buyers,” he added. Not targeting China The United States lifted its lethal arms embargo on Vietnam in 2016, enabling it to procure U.S. equipment but “it will depend mainly on Vietnam’s needs and the prices,” said Vuving. Vietnam’s defense budget has not been made public, but could be about $7.8 billion in 2024, according to GlobalData. It remains dependent on cheaper Russian arms and equipment but there are efforts to diversify supplies with a major defense expo in Hanoi in 2022 and a second one slated for this December. Before the meeting with Gen. Giang on Monday, Secretary Austin said his department had accepted an invitation to the event that is due to be attended by defense suppliers from dozens of countries including Russia, India, the United Kingdom, Israel and France. Vietnam’s big neighbor China did not attend the first Vietnam Defense Expo and has yet to confirm its attendance at the second. A visitor looks into the U.S. Excelitas’ Merlin-LR Image Intensifier weapon-mounted sight during a defense expo in Hanoi on October 2, 2019. (Nhac Nguyen/AFP) Hanoi is always cautious not to antagonize Beijing while deepening ties with Washington, insisting that any effort to modernize its military is purely for self-defense and not aimed at any  country. “China will watch Vietnam-U.S. relations very closely,” said Vuving. “Beijing is unhappy with any progress in U.S.-Vietnam relations.”  Edited by Mike Firn. Updated to clarify Phan Van Giang’s schedule. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Read More

Hong Kong turns away German activist as US warns of growing risks

Editor011 mins

Read coverage of this topic by RFA Mandarin, RFA Tibetan or RFA Cantonese. Authorities in Hong Kong have interrogated and denied entry to a German rights activist amid warnings from the United States of growing personal and business risks for those traveling to the city. Immigration officers turned away rights activist David Missal, deputy managing director & press officer for the Berlin-based Tibet Initiative Germany, after he arrived at Hong Kong International Airport on Sept. 7 from Beijing’s Daxing International Airport, according to a copy of an official “Refusal Notice” he shared to his X account on Sunday. “I was just refused entry to Hong Kong,” Missal, who is also the co-founder of a group called Freedom for Hong Kong, wrote in his X post.  “After 13 sleepless hours under immigration examination in the middle of the night, I was told that I could not enter the city and was eventually allowed to take a plane to Vietnam.” Missal, who isn’t the first foreign rights activist to be denied entry to Hong Kong, described being “questioned several times and held in a room without any daylight,” adding that immigration officers also searched his luggage.                    “The police did not provide any reason for the entry refusal. In the end, I was accompanied by plainclothes police officers to the plane to Vietnam,” Missal wrote, adding that he had been allowed to enter mainland China for two weeks on a visa waiver program with no issues. “I hope Hong Kong will be free – one day,” he said. Eroding freedoms Ray Wong, who heads Freedom for Hong Kong, said the erosion of the city’s freedoms was clear to all, including foreign passport-holders. “That Hong Kong has become less free is something not only we, who come from Hong Kong, notice,” Wong said in a statement. “Foreigners are also not safe from the regime’s arbitrariness. The National Security Police has become an instrument of repression.” Tenzyn Zöchbauer, executive director of Tibet Initiative Germany, strongly condemned the treatment of Missal. “It is unacceptable that even private travelers with critical voices are denied entry,” Zöchbauer said. “These measures are not only an alarming sign of the ongoing loss of Hong Kong’s autonomy but also a clear violation of international human rights standards.” Missal told RFA Mandarin in a later interview from Vietnam that the move was an example of China’s “transnational repression.” “The Hong Kong government and a lot of authoritarian countries are doing this now; I think it’s very common,” he said. “It’s pretty scary.” A screenshot of a post on X by David Missal, deputy managing director & press officer for the Berlin-based Tibet Initiative Germany he says shows a plainclothes policeman following him in the Hong Kong airport, Sept. 8, 2024. (@DavidJRMissal via X) Yet Missal was allowed to enter China, spending time in Beijing and southwestern Sichuan province in a private capacity before boarding the plane to Hong Kong.  This suggests the city’s officials are now even more zealous than their mainland Chinese counterparts when it comes to turning away “undesirables.” “I feel like Hong Kong is the same as mainland China now, or it may be more strict, which is a real shame,” Missal said, adding that he didn’t know if the incident would affect his ability to go back to mainland China in future. Personal details probed From Sept. 3, anyone traveling to Hong Kong will have their personal details sent to the city authorities before they board their flight, making it easier for officials to turn away foreign journalists, members of international organizations, and anyone else they see as “undesirable” before they travel. Missal’s denial of entry came as the U.S. government issued risk advisories to American citizens and businesses, warning them of “personal safety and legal risks” when traveling to Hong Kong or doing business there. Five government departments issued a statement to “highlight new and heightened risks” to U.S. companies operating in Hong Kong in the wake of the latest national security legislation, known as “Article 23.” “Hong Kong’s diminishing autonomy from the central government of the People’s Republic of China, creates new risks for businesses and individuals in Hong Kong that were previously limited to mainland China,” the departments said in a joint statement dated Sept. 6. A screenshot of a post on X by David Missal, Deputy managing director & press officer for the Berlin-based Tibet Initiative Germany that shows his denial for entry into Hong Kong, Sept. 8, 2024. (@DavidJRMissal via X) The warnings were aimed at individuals, businesses, academic institutions, media organizations, research service providers and investors operating in Hong Kong, it said. “The vaguely defined nature of the law and previous government statements and actions raise questions about risks associated with routine activities,” it said, in a reference to the “Article 23″ legislation passed in March. The U.S. State Department has warned Americans to “exercise increased caution when traveling to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws” since April 2024, when its advisory was updated following the implementation of Article 23. ‘I don’t think this ploy will succeed’ The Hong Kong government rejected the advisory as “misleading and untruthful,” accusing Washington of “trying to create panic.” The city’s second-in-command, Chief Secretary for the Administration Eric Chan said the U.S. advisory was an attempt to suppress China’s rise. “The National Security Law has been enacted for a long time and we can all see that we have never groundlessly arrested any business people,” Chan told reporters on Saturday. The warnings “involve an element of intimidation, to scare away business people hoping to invest in Hong Kong. I don’t think this ploy will succeed,” Chan said. Anouk Wear, U.S. Research and Policy Advisor for the London-based rights group Hong Kong Watch, welcomed the U.S. advisory, however. “This advisory … rightly highlights the new and increased risks of operating in Hong Kong,” Wear said in a statement, which called for further sanctions on Hong Kong officials…

Read More

Rebel army captures major Myanmar navy training base

Editor05 mins

Read coverage of this story in Burmese. Insurgents in western Myanmar have captured an important military training base after a month of fighting, the rebel army said in a statement, dealing what is likely to be a severe blow to the embattled military. .Arakan Army troops seized the Central Naval Diving and Salvage Depot between Thandwe township’s Maung Shwe Lay and Kwin Waing village in Rakhine state on Thursday, said the ethnic minority insurgent force battling for self-determination.  The Arakan Army, or AA, said the facility was the last naval base held by junta forces in Thandwe township, and it was defended on a “huge-scale” by the junta’s air force and navy as well as more than 1,200 soldiers, including many new graduates from the base. “More than 400 junta soldiers were killed during our attack, and junta weapons, ammunition and equipment were seized,” the AA said in  its statement.  Radio Free Asia was not able to independently verify that toll and the junta main spokesperson, Major Gen. Zaw Min, Tun did not respond to requests for comment.  The AA posted pictures of its fighters standing by a diving boards at the training center. The base is a major navy training facility and its loss will be of huge significance for the military, said Pe Than, a former member of parliament for the Arakan National Party, which in the past had affiliations with the AA. “Losing such a base will affect training as well as fighting. They’ve destroyed the navy and weakened the army, like cutting a man off at the waist,” he said. He said the Danyawaddy Naval Base in Kyaukpyu township, to the north of Thandwe, was the navy’s last facility in Rakhine state. “The military is like a bird with one wing now,” he said. Arakan Army forces after capturing the junta’s Central Naval Diving and Salvage Depot in Rakhine State on Sept. 5, 2024 (Arakan Army Information Desk) The loss of the base will not only dent the junta’s morale and reputation but also bring in more resources for the AA through the control of goods coming through a nearby port, he said. The AA said it expected junta retaliation against civilians in the area. Human rights investigators say junta forces have been increasingly attacking civilian targets as they lose ground to insurgent forces in different parts of the country. The military denies attacking civilians. The Arakan Army, which launched a new offensive against the military in November, controls nine townships in Rakhine state and one in neighboring Chin state, and is battling to take full control of three other townships.  Junta forces have launched crackdowns in the north of the state, near the Bangladesh border, and across the neighboring Ayeyarwady region after AA gains in the south of the state. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Read More

INTERVIEW: Documentary filmmaker re-lives the 2019 Hong Kong protests

Editor09 mins

A journalist who made a feature-length documentary using on-the-ground footage of the 2019 Hong Kong protests has spoken about the need to face up to the trauma of the months-long movement. The protests, which began as an outpouring of anger over plans to allow the extradition of criminal suspects to face trial in mainland China, were a key milestone in Hong Kong’s transformation from one of the most free-wheeling cities in Asia to the restrictive semi-police state it is today. The filmmaker, who gave only the nickname Alan for fear of reprisals, will screen his film “Rather be Ashes Than Dust” in Canada this month to mark the fifth anniversary of the protest movement this year. Built from thousands of hours of handheld footage from Hong Kong’s streets, much of the action takes place amid pitched street battles between frontline protesters wielding umbrellas, bricks and Molotov cocktails confronting fully-equipped riot police with non-lethal bullets, water cannons and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of tear gas. For Alan, editing his film involved reliving the chaos, terror and heartache of those months, as well as facing up to his own traumatized response. “I knew all of the scenes inside out,” he told RFA Cantonese in a recent interview. “Every location, exactly what happened there — where shots were fired, where people were arrested, where blood was spilled.” PTSD Alan, who like many Hong Kongers has suffered with post-traumatic stress disorder after witnessing so much violence and anguish on Hong Kong’s streets, had to take the edit slowly. “There were some scenes where I really couldn’t stop crying,” he said. “I would cut for maybe one or two minutes, then I wouldn’t be able to carry on.” Only some protesters took on police at the barricades, however. The film also portrays peaceful protesters in their thousands and millions coming out in support of the “Five Demands”: the withdrawal of amendments to extradition laws; fully democratic elections; an amnesty for all arrested protesters; accountability for police brutality and the withdrawal of the use of the word “rioters” to describe them. Hong Kong director “Alan,” whose film “Rather be Ashes Than Dust” premieres in Canada in September 2024. (RFA) While the extradition amendments were withdrawn after crowds of masked activists stormed the Legislative Council on July 1, 2019, the government continued to describe the protests as “riots” instigated by “hostile foreign forces,” and eventually quashed an independent report into police violence. Tens of thousands of people were arrested and packed into overcrowded jails amid  reports of abuse in custody, while electoral rules were rewritten to ensure that only “patriotic” candidates loyal to the ruling Chinese Communist Party could stand. Inner conflict At times, Alan found that his role as a supposedly impartial observer was at odds with his desire to help those he was filming. “One time, the police pinned down a couple,” he said of one incident, which happened as protesters occupied the Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok. “I was some distance away at the time, but I could see them going after people.” “I really, really wanted to warn them to get out of there fast,” he said. “But I was a coward and kept quiet – I just kept on filming the whole thing.” That decision haunts Alan to this day, leading him to feel that the film could encourage similar “soul-searching” in others. “The couple got arrested in the end,” he said. An image from the trailer from the documentary “Rather Be Ashes Than Dust”. (Doc Edge via Youtube) Later, he was to act as a witness for protesters who were being arrested. “Everyone who got arrested started saying their names and ID card numbers in front of a video camera,” Alan said. “Because there were rumors going around that anyone who got arrested would likely just disappear, never to be heard of again.” “So we recorded all of their images and their voices, as evidence,” he said. Sold-out theaters “Rather be Ashes Than Dust” has already been screened at film festivals in South Korea, New Zealand and Sweden. At the Busan International Film Festival last October, it played to three sold-out theaters that were packed with young Koreans. “Hong Kong’s government is actually quite similar to that of South Korea: there’s a lot of conflict and disputes,” he said. “That atmosphere was the reason why so many young South Koreans came to watch my film.” Alan thinks his film, which is scheduled to screen in Toronto on Sept. 28 and 29, will encourage others to face up to Hong Kong’s recent history, even if the wounds are very far from healed. “It’s been five years now, and regardless of how you see things, I think we have to face up to what happened with courage and fortitude, because it’s our history,” he said. “Then, maybe we can reflect on it, maybe do some soul-searching, ask if we did the right thing, and if it was enough?” Even from exile, the film has a role to play, he believes, adding: “The media should never abandon its duty to speak out on behalf of the powerless, the vulnerable and the oppressed.” Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Read More

Investigative Journalism Reportika © March 2022 by Ij-Reportika is licensed under CC BY 4.0