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Aug 9 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
In #China what do you do when you’ve bought an apartment and 5 years later it’s still in a shell of building? We met the people who just moved in and started living in concrete caves without power or water… bbc.co.uk/news/world-asi…
These people are living in really tough conditions: sweltering heat, no water, no power. They say they have nowhere else to go. This is the front line of #China’s property crisis. Modern cave existence: The people living in unfinished apartments bbc.co.uk/news/world-asi…
As a result of our visit (see video link below), the authorities had a meeting with the developers and the residents and ordered that work resume on this building. So far though these people in #Xian have seen no evidence of the developers resuming work. bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-…
We visited #Xian but there are residents squatting in the shells of their own unfinished apartments all over #China. The country's looming property debt crisis is potentially huge... bbc.com/news/av/world-…
More on #China’s property crisis from my colleague @suranjanasays “China property crisis: Why homeowners stopped paying their mortgages”… bbc.co.uk/news/world-asi…
After our visit, the authorities told developers to re-start work on that building, in the presence of the residents, but still no work trucks parked out the front. #China

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More from @StephenMcDonell

Stephen McDonell Profile picture
Jul 5
#Covid cases taking off in #China's #Anhui and #Jiangsu provinces. Also, in the city of #Xian, restaurants will halt in-house dining for 7 days, schools will start holidays early and universities locked down after a #coronavirus outbreak. New infections in #Beijing & #Shanghai.
Over the next three days in #Shanghai, 9 of 16 districts have announced two rounds of compulsory #Covid testing for all residents. People have been told they need to produce a negative #Coronavirus test in order to leave their housing compounds. #China
There have been only around a dozen official #Covid infections in #Shanghai, prompting the mass testing of millions of people in the city over the coming days. #China
Read 4 tweets
Stephen McDonell Profile picture
Apr 26
Late last night #Beijing officials announced that mass #Covid testing would spread beyond #Chaoyang to other parts of the city + that by 8pm Monday 3.69 million people had been tested, that 526,457 results were already in and that they were all negative. #China
Today #Beijing added another 33 official new #Covid infections but, if I’m correctly understanding the government’s language, all of them were already in isolation. Does this means the millions of tests yesterday have not yet identified extra cases in the community here? #China
I may be wrong but, at this stage, with the the trajectory as it is, it seems like #Beijing may NOT be about to have a city-wide lockdown. Instead it’s looking more like specific compounds or specific neighbourhoods may have lockdowns when needed. Of course, this could all change
Read 5 tweets
Stephen McDonell Profile picture
Apr 24
Officials in #Beijing saying that #Omicron has potentially been spreading in the community here over recent weeks, with dozens of official new infections in various places with lots of contacts. #Chaoyang district requiring #Covid tests before people can go to work Monday.
Panic buying has already hit #Beijing, as people fear a #Shanghai-style lockdown in this city. #China #Covid.
As in…
Read 13 tweets
Stephen McDonell Profile picture
Apr 22
In #Shanghai, officials have announced more lockdown measures in an attempt to rein in the #Covid outbreak which has paralysed #China’s financial hub for more than a month. Some entire communities will be temporarily shifted in order to disinfect all their homes.
These people are being moved and their homes disinfected even if they’ve not tested positive. Those who have tested positive and are waiting for a spot in a mass quarantine centre will have an alarm placed on their door to ensure they do not go outside. #Shanghai #Covid
The discovery of one #Covid infected person in an apartment block can tigger the disinfection of the entire building, even if no other cases. During the disinfection process all residents are temporarily moved elsewhere. #Shanghai #China
Read 7 tweets
Stephen McDonell Profile picture
Apr 19
Tip for journos in #UK covering the proposal to send asylum seekers to other countries: the experience in #Australia has been that these off shore detention camps became secret. Although paid for by Australian taxpayers, access to the sites was almost impossible for reporters.
#Nauru, for example, charged an astronomical non-refundable journalist application fee & almost never granted the applications. Successive governments of #Australia then blamed the private companies running the centres and overseas governments for ill treatment of asylum seekers.
So Australian taxpayers paid millions and millions of dollars for asylum seekers to be held “off shore”, the government absolved itself for responsibility for the treatment of these detained people and there was virtually no independent accountability.
Read 4 tweets
Stephen McDonell Profile picture
Apr 4
#HongKong’s leader Carrie Lam has announced she won’t “run” for another term (ie won’t be selected by a Communist Party approved committee). This means she will be retiring soon and a new leader will be appointed.
Carrie Lam will be known as the leader who instigated the 2019 political crisis in #HongKong by trying to push through a massively unpopular law allowing for extradition to mainland courts controlled by the Communist Party. She then governed as the upheaval got worse. #China
At the end of a calamitous year in 2019, Carrie Lam and her allies were obliterated at the ballot box (in the only real elections #HongKong had) losing control of all but one local council. She then did #Beijing’s bidding destroying that system to ensure no more proper elections.
Read 14 tweets

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