July 28-August 3
China
The Ministry of Public Security and Cyberspace Administration of China proposed creating a voluntary national internet ID system, in which each internet user would receive a government-issued ID for use across all internet applications and platforms. This would replace the current system in which each platform and app is required to verify users’ identities. The two agencies made their proposal by releasing for public comment a draft document, the National Internet Identity Authentication Public Service Management Regulations (Draft for Comment)《国家网络身份认证公共服务管理办法（征求意见稿）》. Law scholars said the proposed system poses great risks.
The Communist Party’s Social Work Department, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Education jointly issued a document to encourage university teachers and students to provide volunteer legal aid services. The Opinions on Strengthening Volunteer Legal Aid Services in Colleges and Universities《关于加强高校法律援助志愿服务工作的意见》say that persons engaged in legal education and research, law students, and students in related fields such as sociology and psychology with legal knowledge can register as legal aid volunteers and draft legal documents, offer legal advice, and provide other services to disadvantaged people.
The Supreme People's Procuratorate published ten typical cases involving national defense interests and the rights and interests of military personnel and their families.
Hong Kong
Pro-democracy activist Owen Chow and his lawyer face up to three years in prison and a fine after being convicted of smuggling a complaint form out of prison without authorization. The complaint, which was meant for the prison ombudsman, concerns two Buddhist books banned by the prison authorities. Chow is one of the “Hong Kong 47” arrested for participating in an unofficial primary election; he was convicted in May of conspiracy to subvert the state. He is already serving a sentence of more than five years in prison for his role in the 2019 storming of the legislature building.
The Court of Final Appeal agreed to allow three leaders of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China to appeal their conviction for refusing to give the national security police information about the Alliance. The police made the demand under Article 43 of the National Security Law, which authorizes police to demand information from a foreign agent. The three argued that prosecutors should be required to show that the Alliance was a foreign agent.
Japan
A panel of experts under the Ministry of Justice proposed that a nonprofit information management organization be established to collect all civil and administrative court decisions in a single database. The database could be accessed by legal professionals and researchers for a fee. The ministry plans to submit a bill next year that would create the proposed system.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a plan to make it easier for foreign medicines to obtain approval in Japan by, among other things, easing some regulations and accelerating clinical trials for drugs in high demand. The plan also calls for doubling investment in Japanese pharmaceutical startups by 2028.
The government reached a legal settlement with a victim of the former Eugenic Protection Law who was forcibly sterilized without explanation as a teenager more than sixty years ago. It was the first settlement since the Supreme Court ruled in July that the law was unconstitutional and ordered the state to compensate the victims. The ruling addressed five lawsuits with a total of eleven plaintiffs, but about 39 people have filed lawsuits and it is estimated that 25,000 persons were sterilized under the law.
Japan asked Denmark to extradite anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, who was arrested in Greenland in July under an Interpol red notice obtained by Japan. Japan accuses the 73-year-old Canadian American of obstructing a Japanese whaling research ship in a 2010 confrontation, when he was head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
Koreas
Victims of Japan’s wartime sexual enslavement were stymied in their attempts to collect the compensation awarded them by the Seoul Central District Court in 2021. The government of Japan, citing sovereign immunity, has refused to pay the compensation or provide a list of its assets in South Korea. Unable to complete the compensation procedures, the court revoked its decision in favor of the victims. The victims appealed, but sources said the court’s appellate bench recently dismissed their appeal.
The opposition-controlled National Assembly voted to revise the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act so as to restrict companies from claiming compensation from workers who stage illegal strikes. The business community urged President Yoon Suk Yeol to veto the revision, as he vetoed similar legislation last year.
A civilian employee of South Korea's Defense Intelligence Command was arrested on suspicion of leaking confidential military secrets about South Korea's overseas intelligence activities. According to media reports, the employee gave a Chinese national of Korean descent thousands of confidential documents, including a list of agents operating under cover in foreign countries.
Taiwan
Authorities in Taiwan agreed to compensate the families of two mainland Chinese fishermen who died while being chased at sea by Taiwan’s coast guard in February. The incident triggered more frequent Chinese patrols around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen archipelago, which in turn exacerbated cross-Straits tensions.