September 8-14
China
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress approved an increase in the official retirement ages for men and women as China faces a graying population and shrinking labor force. Over a 15-year period beginning January 1, 2025, men’s retirement age will rise from 60 to 63; women’s will rise from 55 to 58 for white-collar employees and from 50 to 55 for blue-collar employees.
The Supreme People's Court (SPC) and the Ministry of Justice jointly released a report about judicial review of commercial arbitration in 2023. It said Chinese courts reviewed more than 16,000 cases relating to the validity of arbitration agreements and arbitration awards last year. The number of cases reported to the SPC for review fell from 350 in 2021 to 29 due to a 2022 regulation limiting the scope of SPC review.
The Ministry of Commerce, National Health Commission, and National Medical Products Administration jointly issued a document allowing the establishment of foreign-owned hospitals in nine cities as well as foreign investment in the development and application of gene and human stem cell technologies in free-trade zones in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, and Hainan. The government is seeking foreign investment to boost its flagging economy.
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress released draft revisions to six bills and invited public comment through October 12, 2024. Among them is a draft amendment to the Supervision Law that would expand the power of supervision committees on several fronts, including jurisdiction, compulsory measures, and extension of time limits in handling corruption cases.
The government released an American man whom the US considered to be unjustly imprisoned. The family of David Lin, 68, confirmed that he was released from prison and on his way home. He had been held since 2006 for alleged contract fraud, and was serving a life sentence. Politico reported a US government official as saying that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in July that Lin would be released.
Hong Kong
The Beijing and Hong Kong governments decried the US House of Representatives’ approval of a bill that could lead to the closure of Hong Kong trade offices in New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Certificate Act would require the US president to end “privileges, exemptions, and immunities” granted to Hong Kong as a “special administrative region” of China if he determines that the city no longer enjoys a high degree of autonomy.
Lawyer Chow Hang-tung, who has been imprisoned for three years on various charges, filed a legal challenge to the Correction Service rule that imposes different clothing requirements for female and male inmates. Female inmates are required to wear the same long trousers during summer that they wear in winter, while male inmates can wear shorts. Chow was granted a leave to apply for judicial review to challenge the rule. Chow was vice-chairperson of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.
The Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union urged the government to investigate claims by mainland Chinese construction workers that a local management agency cheated them out of wages. About 30 workers who protested outside their construction site were later reported fired. The union earlier said that this was a widespread problem.
Japan
The Nagoya High Court granted Japanese nationality to a child born in Japan to Afghan refugees because the parents were essentially stateless at the time of birth. The child was born in 2022 to parents who fled Afghanistan after the Taliban took over and were granted refugee status in Japan in August 2023. They filed a petition with the court seeking Japanese nationality for their child.
The District Court in Nagasaki recognized 15 additional victims of the 1945 US nuclear bomb dropped on the city during World War II. Forty-four persons had filed a lawsuit seeking official recognition as “hibakusha” or atomic bomb victims who are entitled to government support. They were previously denied recognition because they lived outside a government-designated geographic zone for victims.
Koreas
The South Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission found evidence that women who gave birth inside government-run facilities for alleged vagrants were pressured into giving their babies away for foreign adoption from the 1960s to the1980s.The commission was established in 2020 to review human rights violations during the country’s past military governments.
Two former Samsung Electronics officials arrested on suspicion of stealing core semiconductor trade secrets and personnel to build a copycat chip plant in China were transferred to the prosecution for possible indictment.
The South Korean Supreme Court upheld the life sentence given to a man who stabbed one man to death and wounded three others at a subway station in Seoul last year. The apparently random attack on strangers shocked the country.
Taiwan
Lawyers for the chairman of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), former presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), said he will not appeal his detention without bail in an investigation of alleged corruption in a mall development project. Under Taiwan law, Ko could be detained for up to four months without being formally charged. Several thousand Ko supporters rallied outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. One man was arrested for posting online death threat against a judge involved in the detention decision.
The Supreme Court confirmed the acquittal of Jeffrey Koo Jr. (辜仲諒), the former vice chairman of CTBC Financial Holding Co., on charges of embezzling company funds and other illegal financial dealings. Koo and other CTBC executives were originally charged in 2016. Prosecutors had appealed after the Taipei District Court and High Court acquitted Koo.
Two German navy ships sailed through the Taiwan Strait for the first time in over 20 years, declaring the passage to be international waters. The United States, Canada, France, and UK have similarly transited the strait. China’s Foreign Ministry maintains that the strait is China’s internal waterway.