China

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China’s legislature approves a Tariff Law that reiterates China’s right to retaliate if other countries impose tariffs on Chinese goods; seven defendants go on trial in Hong Kong on charges of plotting a terrorist attack during the 2019 protests; four persons who say they were harmed by fraudulent investment ads sue Facebook Japan; South Korea’s Constitutional Court strikes down an inheritance rule that has guaranteed siblings of the diseased a minimum share of the estate; Taiwan’s Constitutional Court hears oral arguments about the constitutionality of the death penalty.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

The Chinese government orders Apple to remove WhatsApp and Threads from its app store in China; a Hong Kong judge agrees to hear arguments about the constitutionality of new restrictions on journalists accessing the government’s vehicles registry; a Japanese court rejects the claim by death row inmates that same-day notification of execution is unconstitutional; South Korea's government offers to compromise on the pace of increasing medical school admissions in order to end a two-month doctors' strike; Taiwan’s Vice President-elect Hsiao Bi-khim expresses confidence that Taiwan will soon achieve 50 percent female representation in its legislature.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China initiates a complaint at the World Trade Organization over a US program that provides tax credits to electrical vehicle buyers; Australia, Britain, and Taiwan warn their citizens to exercise caution when traveling to Hong Kong lest they inadvertently violate Hong Kong’s new national security law; Japan’s Cabinet relaxes guidelines for selling defense equipment overseas; South Korean medical professors say they will reduce the hours they spend in practice to support striking junior doctors; Taiwan declares TikTok a dangerous product and considers expanding restrictions on its use.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

A Chinese court for the first time sentences a domestic abuser to prison for violating a constraining order; Hong Kong's legislature unanimously approves a national security law that imposes severe penalties for treason, insurrection, theft of state secrets, sabotage, and external interference; a Japanese district court rejects the claims of some mercury pollution victims; South Korea suspends the licenses of two doctors as it tries to end a month-long strike by interns and residents; Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare offers proposals for reforming the foster care and adoption system following the death of a 1-year-old from alleged abuse.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China's legislature concludes its annual plenary session with no surprises and no press conference by Premier Li Qiang; Hong Kong legislators support giving new powers to the chief executive under the draft Safeguarding National Security bill; a Japanese high court rules that denying marriage to same-sex couples violates the constitution; South Korean prosecutors indict 11 former senior officials in the last administration of manipulating government housing and employment data for political purposes; Taiwan’s Supreme Court reverses itself and acquits an indigenous person of killing a protected species in a high-profile case.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China's legislature opens its annual plenary session but its premier will not meet the media; Hong Kong’s legislature begins discussing a draft security law; six Japanese couples seek to have the requirement that married couples share the same family name be declared unconstitutional; South Korea’s Constitutional Court upholds the constitutionality of the 52-hour work week; laws designed to make it easier for victims of sexual harassment to file reports and receive support take effect in Taiwan.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China’s legislature revises the State Secrets Protection Law and adds a vague new category of secrets; the Hong Kong Journalists Association urges the government to clarify the definitions of new domestic security crimes that it proposes to create; Japan’s prime minister vows to curb unethical political fundraising; South Korea’s Constitutional Court upholds a tenant-friendly law and rejects restrictions on fetal gender tests; Taiwan moves a step closer to making it easier for some foreign professionals to gain Taiwan citizenship.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China’s central government warns localities against imposing excessive fines and fees to compensate for falling tax revenues and shrinking income from sales of land use rights; eight defendants in Hong Kong plead guilty to plotting to plant bombs during the city’s 2019 protests; Japan’s immigration authorities seek to revoke the status of foreign permanent residents who repeatedly don’t pay taxes or break the law; South Korea threatens legal action against striking doctors; China’s coast guard boards a Taiwanese tour boat near Taiwan’s Kinmen Islands in the latest tension-raising incident in the Taiwan Strait.

This Week in Asian Law

Chinese universities conduct a nationwide audit of retracted academic papers; Hong Kong courts sentence more defendants in cases stemming from the 2019 protests; LGBTQ activists in Japan advocate for equal marriage rights on Valentine’s Day; South Korea convicts three former police officers for destroying evidence linked to a fatal crowd crush in Seoul on Halloween 2022; Taiwan solicits public input for the next phase of its Open Government National Action Plan.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China releases cases to illustrate the liability rules for dog owners and caregivers; Hong Kong’s justice secretary says journalists who interview activists may be charged with abetting them; a Japanese court approves a transgender man’s official change of gender without undergoing surgery; a South Korean court acquits Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong of financial crimes; Taiwan travel agents threaten protests after the government says it will reinstate a ban on tours to China.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China executes three persons in two separate high-profile murder cases; Hong Kong publishes a public consultation document setting out plans to create new national security crimes; foreign-born residents of Japan seek a court ruling that police racial profiling violates Japanese law; a South Korean court orders the state to compensate victims of human rights abuses at a former detention center during the era of military rule; Taiwan’s newly elected Legislative Yuan convenes and chooses a Kuomintang legislator as the new speaker, beginning a new era of divided government.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

A UN working group examines China’s human rights record during its fourth Universal Periodic Review; Hong Kong’s chief justice says threats of sanctions against Hong Kong judges are “repugnant to the rule of law”; a Japanese court sentences a man to death for carrying out a 2019 arson attack that killed 36 people in an animation studio; a South Korean court rules that a ban on rallies near the presidential office is unlawful; the Taiwanese government considers legalizing assisted reproduction for same-sex couples and single women.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate intervenes to protect a whistleblower; a prosecution witness in the Hong Kong trial of former publisher Jimmy Lai testifies that Lai instructed him to encourage people to join the 2019 protests; Japan’s Supreme Court agrees to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit over the eligibility of same-sex partners for public benefits; North Korean leader Kim Jong Un calls for a constitutional amendment to declare that South Korea is his country’s "primary foe."; a Taiwanese woman challenges height requirements for firefighters and police officers..

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China’s Supreme People’s Court recommends overhauling the system of collateral consequences for persons convicted of crimes; the 2024 agenda for Hong Kong’s Legislative Council includes a Safeguarding National Security Bill to supplement the existing National Security Law; Japanese prosecutors make their first arrests in an investigation into alleged financial reporting crimes by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s largest faction; South Korea’s Supreme Court orders Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. to compensate the victims of forced labor during the Japanese colonial era; Taiwan Vice President Lai Ching-te wins the presidential election with 40% of the vote in a three-way contest, but the opposition takes over the legislature.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China’s Supreme People’s Court releases guidance about application of foreign law when adjudicating foreign-related civil cases; a Hong Kong court hears final arguments in the trial of 16 pro-democracy activists charged with violating the 2020 National Security Law by holding an unofficial primary election; a court jails the head of Japanese non-profit organization for brokering organ transplants overseas for Japanese in need of transplants; South Korea’s conservative president vetoes more legislation approved by the opposition-controlled National Assembly; Taiwan accuses ten persons of spying for China, including several active-duty military personnel.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China releases 12 typical cases on the construction of a barrier-free environment; the University of Hong Kong cancels a talk by Jimmy Lai’s British lawyer; Human Rights Watch issues a report criticizing the treatment of women imprisoned in Japan; South Korea’s sentencing commission considers increasing the punishment for stalking crimes; Taipei prosecutors decline to prosecute Elon Musk for smoking marijuana in a 2018 online video.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

Chinese lawyer and writer Guo Feixiong is reported to be seriously ill in prison after hunger striking; Hong Kong police arrest six more suspects in connection with alleged fraud at the Dubai-based cryptocurrency trading platform JPEX; Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates changes its name to Smile-Up and says it will compensate victims of sexual abuse by its late founder; South Korea’s Constitutional Court again upholds the country’s male-only military conscription system; Taiwan investigates four local companies suspected of helping China's Huawei Technologies to build semiconductor facilities.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

The deeply indebted real estate company China Evergrande Group discloses that its founder and chairman has been criminally detained; Hong Kong demands more transparency from virtual assets trading platforms following fraud allegations at JPEX; Japan’s Supreme Court considers whether to eliminate the surgery requirement for changing one’s legal gender; South Korea’s Constitutional Court declares unconstitutional a ban on sending anti-regime leaflets across the border into North Korea; Taiwan’s highest administrative court rules that surgery should not be required to change one’s legal gender.