Basings are now a shambles. CX has been drawn to the attention of various taxation, immigration and industrial authorities in many of the basing countries, additional to the amateurish and under-resourced base administration by CX. The 49er episode was certainly the catalyst for the UK base.
If you saw the tiny basings office that administrates almost 1/3 of Cathay Pacific's flight crew, you would probably burst out laughing.
As far as I know there are no more basings slots available until the mess gets sorted out. Temporary bases and base swaps have been axed. Even if slots become available again, you can APPLY as an FO but in most of the choice base areas it's 'dead mens' shoes' to actually be awarded one.