Hong Kong’s planned renovation monitoring body could be held liable for poor oversight when recommending and keeping tabs on consultants and contractors, Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho has warned, as officials detailed broader reforms to curb malpractice during major building repairs. Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun on Friday also gave assurances that a new department overseeing major renovation projects would adopt a fresh approach and provide training, despite...

China and America have escalated uncrewed aircraft deployments across sensitive Indo-Pacific waters, with mainland drones patrolling strategic passages near Japan while a US Marine detachment operates near disputed South China Sea islands. In recent days, Japan has detected an uptick in Chinese military aircraft operations in important waters that enable Beijing’s naval forces to transit beyond the first island chain. The activity coincided with large-scale joint military exercises between Tokyo...

Hong Kong’s planned renovation monitoring body could be held liable for poor oversight when recommending and keeping tabs on consultants and contractors, Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho has warned, as officials detailed broader reforms to curb malpractice during major building repairs. Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun on Friday also gave assurances that a new department overseeing major renovation projects would adopt a fresh approach and provide training, despite...

Hong Kong police are investigating the suspected theft of five styrofoam sculptures created by local artist Keith Lam Yan-kit. The sculptures were discovered missing from Hong Kong City Hall in Central hours before the opening of a major new exhibition. At just after 2.30pm on Friday afternoon, officers received a report from the Microwave International New Media Arts Festival 2026 about the missing art pieces, which are part of an eight-piece work. The case has been classified as theft and...

China has eradicated “serious hidden dangers” in its Communist Party and military under President Xi Jinping’s leadership, a senior official said on Friday, a day after authorities confirmed the expulsion of a record 33 figures. Chinese paramilitary police patrol around Tiananmen Square during the plenary session of the Communist Party’s Central Committee in Beijing on October 26, 2026. Photo: Pedro Pardo/AFP. In more than a decade in charge, Xi has cracked down hard on graft, ensnaring thousands of officials and purging dozens of members of the powerful Central Committee and a string of top military brass. As a four-day plenum of the Central Committee wrapped up on Thursday, state media confirmed 33 more dignitaries had been ejected, including former Politburo member Zhang Youxia, once China’s highest-ranking general. The plenum adopted a decision on “advancing full and rigorous governance of the party”, which includes reducing corruption among cadres, state news agency Xinhua said. Proponents say China’s corruption purge promotes clean governance, but analysts have said the moves were aimed at paving the way for Xi to extend his rule at a Party Congress due in the second half of 2027. Chinese leader Xi Jinping on September 3, 2025. Photo: SpoxCHN_MaoNing, via X. The Central Committee, “with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core”, has “eliminated serious hidden dangers within the Party, the state and the military,” Zhang Fuhai, deputy secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), said on Friday. The Party, he told reporters at a news briefing, had been guided by the sense of mission that “we would rather offend thousands than let down 1.4 billion people”, referring to China’s population. China had previously removed Zhang Youxia, then the highest-ranking general, from his position following a months-long graft investigation, with his expulsion from the party confirmed on Thursday. Ma Xingrui, a former top Xinjiang official whose ouster was also confirmed, had previously been removed from all his posts over corruption allegations, including nepotism, bribery and paying for sex. The CCDI’s Zhang Fuhai said on Friday that discipline inspection and supervisory organs in the country have punished 7.9 million people since 2012. Chinese Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Shengmin attends the opening session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 5, 2026. Photo: Florence Lo/AFP. Efforts to weed out corruption will be “deepened”, he vowed, especially in sectors “characterised by the concentration of power, large amounts of funds and rich resource”. “We will prioritise the investigation of issues where political and economic problems are intertwined, collusion between government and business, and the infiltration of capital into the political sphere,” he said. “We will thoroughly investigate new forms of corruption and hidden corruption, and routinely address misconduct and corruption affecting the public at the grassroots level,” he added. This week’s meeting also saw Zhang Shengmin, who has spearheaded the anti-graft drive within the military and who serves as Xi’s number two in the Central Military Commission (CMC), promoted to the Politburo, the top decision-making body.

Around 300 civil servants at a government inspection unit will be transferred to a new regulatory body set up to replace the unit, authorities have said, after an independent investigation blamed it for regulatory failures leading to last year’s deadly fire in Tai Po. Deputy Financial Secretary and Acting Secretary for Housing Michael Wong speaks in a press conference on October 29, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Authorities announced plans on Thursday to axe the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit (ICU) as part of a raft of reforms responding to the findings of an Independent Committee tasked with investigating the fire’s causes and making policy recommendations. See also: HK officials bow in apology almost a year after Tai Po blaze killed 168, housing chief steps down The ICU will be replaced in November by a new body called the Public Housing Building Control Section, which will establish a new regulatory regime to oversee maintenance projects in Hong Kong’s public and government-subsidised housing estates. Acting Secretary for Housing Michael Wong said at a press conference on Friday that the new section would be staffed by civil servants from the soon-to-be-scrapped ICU. When asked by reporters if the arrangement was merely “old wine in a new bottle,” Wong said the new regime would change to a project-based model, and authorities had provided additional training to civil servants to deepen their understanding of relevant regulations. Unlike the ICU, Wong said, the new section would deploy a dedicated liaison officer to communicate with the Owners’ Corporation for each building maintenance project. Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on December 10, 2025. Photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP. It would also enhance communication with the Buildings Department, which would second a directorate-level officer to the Public Housing Building Control Section to provide training and supervision. Wong said, citing remarks made on Thursday by the city’s leader John Lee, that while the independent committee found shortcomings in the work of some civil servants, Hong Kong’s civil service as a whole was doing a good job. The Housing Bureau had made achievements in increasing the supply of public housing units and combating substandard subdivided units, Wong added. ICU under fire The independent committee’s final report, which was published on Thursday, criticised the ICU’s  “slack supervision attitude” over renovation works at fire-hit Wang Fuk Court. The unit was also found to have mishandled residents’ complaints over potential fire hazards. The independent committee heard in previous hearings that ICU surveyors had notified contractors ahead of safety inspections at Wang Fuk Court, giving them time to remove non-compliant elements. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee and other top officials bow in apology on October 29, 2026 over the deadly 2025 Wang Fuk Court blaze. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. “Even with a regulatory regime with loopholes and deficiencies, had the staff of the ICU taken their works seriously… there was a real possibility that they could have removed some of the fire hazards in Wang Fuk Court,” the independent committee said. In November last year, a blaze broke out in the estate while it was undergoing major renovations and the buildings were clad in scaffolding nets. The fire quickly ripped through seven of the eight towers, killing 168 people and leaving thousands homeless. The city’s leader Lee also said that the government would activate a mechanism to investigate potential accountability issues within the civil service, with a focus on the four departments named by the committee’s report, including the ICU, the Buildings Department, the Fire Services Department, and the Labour Department. The “Tier II investigation” is a mechanism under the Heads of Department Accountability System, established in the Chief Executive’s 2025 Policy Address. Lee said the Public Service Commission would complete its investigation within three months and submit recommendations on whether disciplinary action or administrative penalties would be in order.

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