Weekend reading comes late

AP looks at Hong Kong’s subdivided apartments…

Jimmy Au’s world shrinks to about the size of a parking space whenever she gets home.

Her cramped Hong Kong home is one of four units carved out of what was once a single apartment. Most of the space is occupied by the bunk bed she shares with her husband and son, and their sleep is often disrupted by neighbors returning late or heading out early. Au’s son often gets bruises bumping into things. Privacy is limited, with only a curtain separating the bathroom from the kitchen.

But what troubles Au most about her home is that she might lose it. 

HKFP on a sociologist’s work on people living in the tiny homes…

[Sociologist Ruby Lai] Lai and her research partners spent two years doing intensive fieldwork in Kwai Chung, Tai Kok Tsui and Kwun Tong. Their research findings were later turned into an art exhibition in one of the districts.

Also in HKFP – the landlords’ side of the subdivided flats story…

Chan told HKFP that he rented a 900-square-foot flat in North Point at the market rate of HK$29,000, turned it into six subdivided units and leased them for a total of HK$40,000 per month.

Charging around HK$6,500 monthly rent for each of over 600 units, Chan’s company rakes in a HK$1 million profit each month after taking maintenance and administrative costs into account.

While he is unwilling to risk the legal repercussions once the new law is in effect, he also said that remodelling each subdivided unit expected to be deemed illegal under the new regulation would not be economically justifiable.

Renovation companies told him it would cost around HK$150,000 to renovate a single subdivided unit in compliance with the proposed standards. Even if he has the funds for the renovations, it may take years to break even on the extra costs, he said.

Yes, landlords face problems too. While it’s easy to demonize them for high rents, they do not cause the underlying problem – a shortage of housing resulting from government policy.

TransitJam introduces ‘probably the first tourist destination in the world to have its own website showing you how to leave it’…

…police launch the Kai Tak Easy Leave website which apparently harnesses the “power of AI” to show people the best way to get away from Kai Tak Stadium.

From Bloomberg an interview with Mark Clifford, author of The Troublemaker…

You can’t separate the legal campaign being waged against Jimmy from what’s happening in Hong Kong more broadly. We had a listed company. The majority shareholders’ voting rights were taken away without a court order. Then our bank accounts were frozen. We had almost a thousand staff. We couldn’t pay them because the bank accounts were frozen. But then the government’s labor tribunal took us to court because we didn’t pay people. We had four separate investigations against us. When you’re on the other end of the state coming after you, it’s really freaky. I had to hire my own lawyers and it’s scary, even though I’m sitting in the States and I’ve done nothing wrong…

…What we’re saying is, you’re not going to normalize this until you start letting people out. And of course, Jimmy’s not the only one. We think there are close to a thousand people in prison. A lot of those people are going to get out in the next year or two. Their lives are going to be forever scarred. But you’ve got to start easing up on Hong Kong, and then maybe the US can start thinking about easing up on sanctions.

…He’s the most prominent or influential independent Chinese language media in the world. I mean, the guy’s just sizzling with ideas. Why do you want to lock up a job and wealth creator like that?

The Guardian on the intimidation of lawyers acting for Lai in the UK…

UK-based lawyers have spoken out about being targeted by the Chinese state and its supporters in a campaign of intimidation including surveillance, hacking of bank accounts and rape threats.

The barristers, from Doughty Street Chambers in London, say there has been a coordinated and concerted campaign against them since they began acting for the jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and media mogul, Jimmy Lai, three years ago.

Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC said she had received threats via email and social media of dismemberment, rape and death, which have extended to her family in recent months.

“I had a threat to rape one of my children because of my work,” she said.

The BBC profiles another ‘enemy of the Chinese state’ in the UK…

Just over a year ago, Chloe Cheung was sitting her A-levels. Now she’s on a Chinese government list of wanted dissidents.

The choir girl-turned-democracy activist woke up to news in December that police in Hong Kong had issued a $HK1 million … reward for information leading to her capture abroad.

“I actually just wanted to take a gap year after school,” Chloe, 19, who lives in London, told the BBC. “But I’ve ended up with a bounty!”

From Brian Kern/Kong Tsung-gan, a list of all the civil society, media and other independent organizations that have closed down in Hong Kong since 2019/NatSec. Quite a list, including Apple Daily. He also mentioned those groups still operating…

In one category are those that attempt to stick to their original purpose. Examples are the political party, League of Social Democrats, and the labor group, Hong Kong Journalists Association. Both have been repeatedly targeted by the regime for persecution. (There will be a future Hong Kong Repression Monitor article on LSD as a case study in the various forms of harassment they have had to endure. HKJA is subjected to constant petty persecution, from harassment of members of its executive committee to repeatedly thwarted attempts to book football pitches.) Independent bookstores largely flew under the radar in the first stages of the attacks on civil society, but after some of the bigger targets were wiped out, the regime has targeted independent bookstores for constant “inspections” by various governmental agencies. As a result, two have closed and others continue to operate under besieged circumstances. (There will also be a future Hong Kong Repression Monitor article on book censorship in Hong Kong which will focus on the persecution of independent bookstores.)

In another category are those that have “adapted.” This means they have ceased being critical of the regime and have largely “harmonized” their operations so as to avoid any attacks by the regime. Examples here are the Hong Kong Bar Association, which used to be strongly critical of the regime on legal issues and a bulwark against attempts by the regime to erode rule of law and human rights protections, and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, which used to speak out on human rights issues in general and those pertaining to freedom of the press in particular, hosting controversial speakers and running the Asian Human Rights Press Awards. The public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong has also been harmonized: once an independent outlet similar to the BBC in the UK, it has become a mouthpiece of the regime, more similar to Xinhua in China.

Also mentioned in the list is HKPORI, subject of a HKFP op-ed…

The government needs to meet the expectations of the community. How do officials know what these expectations are except via credible, scientifically conducted, publicly available polls? This is what PORI delivers.

In 2018, the government declared that it sought to be transparent, open and accountable to the public “as much as possible.” Polling outfits like PORI and the media are part of the infrastructure for holding the government to account. They bring to public notice issues of concern to the public.

The relationship between the political class and polling is conflicted. Leaders praise polls that support them, but condemn polls, the pollsters and their methods when they do not. Leaders need to recognise that polls and pollsters are the message and the messenger. Credibility depends on delivering the good and the bad. In this, officials are mostly opportunistic.

A Jamestown Foundation China Brief article on apparent reconnaissance and sabotage against Taiwan’s undersea communications cables… 

Later in January, another Hong Kong-registered vessel was reported loitering for nearly a month close to the coast of southern Taiwan. The Vasili Shukshin, a Belize-flagged, Russian-operated cargo vessel, spent December 19, 2024 to January 14, 2025 in the general area from Kaohsiung to the Hengchun Peninsula. The vessel did not enter port and maneuvered on a track that made little sense in commercial terms. As one maritime analyst described it, “the vessel was aimlessly criss-crossing the area near Taiwan’s Fangshan undersea cable landing station for 3.5 weeks for no apparent reason.” It eventually exited the area and returned to the Russian Pacific port of Vostochnyy.

Also from Jamestown – what’s behind the odd leadership changes in the PLA?

…possible motivations include combating corruption, managing factional conflicts, asserting dominance as an aging autocrat, overcoming limited military service experience, and following successful historical precedents for control.