By AFP Staff Writers SpaceWar
The Indonesian government has blocked a billion-dollar real estate development outside Jakarta that was to include luxury properties under U.S. President Donald Trump’s brand, citing environmental damage, officials said Friday.
Trump-branded hotels, residences and a golf course were part of the blueprint for MNC Lido City — an entertainment park project by a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned construction firm Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC).
The ambitious deal was signed between MCC and Indonesia’s entertainment firm MNC Land in 2018.
The area, set to be part of a “world-class integrated tourism” resort, was expected to be backed by up to $500 million in Chinese government loans.
But Indonesia’s Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq ordered the halt on Thursday after a field inspection discovered several violations.
The ministry’s senior official Rizal Irawan told a news conference on Friday that the project’s “land clearing activities allegedly have caused sedimentation and shallowing in the Lake Lido”.
Satellite images by the ministry showed Lake Lido West Java province has more than halved in size since the construction began — down from 24.7 hectares (61 acres) to 11.9 hectares.
Authorities also found significant discrepancies between the approved environmental plans and the actual construction by Indonesia’s MNC Land subsidiary, PT MNC Land Lido.
The government will impose administrative sanctions, Irawan added.
PT MNC Land Lido argued that the sedimentation had occurred before the company took charge in 2013.
“Sedimentation or shallowing as alleged has occurred before PT MNC Land Lido took over the Lido Area in 2013, which can be proven by the existence of aerial photos from 2013,” the company said in a statement cited by Indonesia’s news agency Antara.
It said it began construction in 2016 with one of its aims being to tackle the sedimentation.
The project is a key part of the 3,000-hectare special economic zone development.
Chinese companies were not planned to be directly involved in constructing or financing the Trump-branded properties.
Hundreds protest in London against Beijing ‘mega embassy’
London (AFP) Feb 8, 2025 – Hundreds of demonstrators on Saturday protested at a site earmarked for Beijing’s controversial new embassy in London over human rights and security concerns.
The new embassy — if approved by the UK government — would be the “biggest Chinese embassy in Europe”, one lawmaker said earlier.
Protester Iona Boswell, a 40-year-old social worker, told AFP said there was “no need for a mega embassy here” and that she believed it would be used to facilitate the “harassment of dissidents”.
China has for several years been trying to relocate its embassy, currently in the British capital’s upmarket Marylebone district, to the sprawling historic site in the shadow of the Tower of London.
The move has sparked fierce opposition from nearby residents, rights groups, critics of China’s ruling Communist Party and others.
“This is about the future of our freedom, not just the site of a Chinese embassy in London,” Conservative Party lawmaker Tom Tugendhat told AFP at the protest, adding that people living in the UK “sadly have been too often been threatened by Chinese state agents”.
“I think it would be a threat to all of us because we would see an increase in economic espionage… and an increase in the silencing of opponents of the Chinese Communist Party (in the UK),” the former security minister added.
Housing the Royal Mint — the official maker of British coins — for nearly two centuries, the site was earlier home to a 1348-built Cistercian abbey but is currently derelict.
Beijing bought it for a reported $327 million in 2018.
– Online surveillance –
“It will be like a headquarter (for China) to catch the (Hong Kong) people in the UK to (send them) back to China,” said another protester dressed all in black and wearing a full face mask, giving his name only as “Zero”, a member of “Hongkongers in Leeds”, the northern English city.
“After the super embassy (is built) maybe they will have more people to do the dirty jobs,” he added.
The protest comes as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, elected last July, wants more engagement with Beijing, following years of deteriorating relations over various issues, in particular China’s rights crackdown in Hong Kong.
In November Starmer became the first UK prime minister since 2018 to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, when the pair held talks at the G20 in Brazil.
A national planning inspector will now hold a public inquiry into the scheme, but Communities Secretary Angela Rayner will make the final decision.
That has alarmed opponents who fear the Labour government’s emphasis on economic growth, and improved China ties, could trump other considerations.
Multiple Western nations accuse Beijing of using espionage to gather technological information.
They have also accused hacking groups backed by China of a global campaign of online surveillance targeting critics.
The United States, Britain and New Zealand in March 2024 accused Beijing-backed hackers of being behind a series of attacks against lawmakers and key democratic institutions — allegations that prompted angry Chinese denials.
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There is no doubt in my mind that money and politics will always overcome human dignity. Go ahead greedy people, let China build their embassy, and watch the Asian bodies pile up. Some dissidents will opt not to leave alive and become martyrs.