March 31-April 6
China
The Cyberspace Administration of China updated its regulations for transferring data out of the country. The Regulations on Promoting and Regulating Cross-Border Data Flow, published on March 22, 2024 with immediate effect, set the thresholds at which data exporters must apply to the Cyberspace Administration for a data export security assessment. The regulations also define what data is considered “important” and provide scenarios in which an export assessment is not required.
The National Healthcare Security Administration, which operates the state-run health insurance system, said that four provincial-level regions — Beijing, Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, and Gansu — now include assisted reproduction services in the list of services eligible for insurance coverage.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP became the latest international law firm to close its Beijing office. The firm said it is also in discussions to shut its Shanghai office.
Hong Kong
A court found a 43-year-old accountant guilty of rioting for his role in a violent clash in 2019 at the Yuen Long MTR station in which more than 100 white-clad, rod-wielding men attacked passengers in the station, including black-clad anti-government protesters and ordinary commuters. The court heard that Jacky Ho had thrown a soda can and an umbrella towards the people in white. It was the first time that someone not among the white-clad attackers was convicted in the clash, but is consistent with the government position that the clash was a gang fight and both sides were to blame. Former Democratic Party legislator Lam Cheuk-ting, who was seen in video being attacked at the station by the men in white, also has been charged with rioting.
The government appointed more than 100 losing candidates in last year’s District Council elections to serve on the non-elected Area Committees, the District Fight Crime Committees, and the District Fire Safety Committees that work in tandem with the District Councils. They were among nearly 3,000 persons appointed to the committees. Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs Alice Mak said criteria for appointment included being “patriots,” familiar with district affairs, and committed to serving the community.
More than a year after the Court of Final Appeal threw out a requirement that transgender persons undergo full sex-change surgery in order to change their gender on official ID cards, the government issued modified surgery requirements: removal of breasts for transgender men and removal of penis and testes for transgender women, plus two years of hormonal treatment. Applicants will be required to submit blood test results showing hormone levels. Transgender advocates said the new rules violate privacy rights.
Japan
The Diet's Judicial Impeachment Court dismissed Kiichi Okaguchi, a Sendai High Court judge, for an inappropriate social media post about a murder case. In a 2017 Twitter post, the judge wrote about the 2015 murder of a 17-year-old girl in a manner that the court decided violated the dignity of the victim’s family. Okaguchi is the eighth judge to be impeached in postwar Japan, but the first impeached for his speech.
Koreas
Police arrested one man and were searching for two others on suspicion of installing spy cameras inside about 40 polling stations and vote counting centers in multiple cities in order to monitor early voting. The man who was arrested was described as a YouTube influencer who had previously expressed concern about possible election fraud. South Koreans elect representatives to the 300-seat National Assembly on April 10. Early voting was held on April 5 and 6.
The South Korean Supreme Court barred the Chonnam National University Law School from disqualifying an applicant who failed to show up for an interview on a Saturday for religious reasons. The court said the school is obliged to actively ensure that applicants with religious affiliations are not disadvantaged. The applicant is a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Ewha Women's University threatened to sue a legislative candidate for insulting its past president and students. Kim Jun-hyeok of the opposition Democratic Party allegedly claimed that Ewha's first president played a role in sending “comfort women” to Japan during World War II and later forced students to provide sexual favors for US military officers from 1945-48. The university said Kim’s remarks were unverifiable and speculative.
Taiwan
Lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party reintroduced a bill to provide more flexible parental leave in an effort to ease labor shortages and help working-age mothers return to the workforce. Nearly half of working-age women are not in the workforce as many stay at home to take care of children.