February 27-March 5
China
As of March 1, 2021, the following PRC laws, regulations and judicial interpretations took effect:
Amendment XI to the Criminal Law, which among other things, lowers the age of criminal responsibility to 12 years, and introduces significant changes with respect to crimes involving sexual offenses, industrial safety, financial market order, intellectual property, the environment, and infectious disease control.
The Supreme People’s Court (SPC) and Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) released a joint document, the Supplemental Provisions VII on the Determination of Criminal Charges, providing updated guidance on the use of 25 criminal charges. Click here for the SPC drafter’s explanation of the changes. (in Chinese)
Yangtze River Protection Law (paywalled)
SPC Interpretation on the Application of the Criminal Procedure Law. See the drafter’s explanation here (in Chinese).
The 2021 annual plenary meetings of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the National People’s Congress opened on March 4 and March 5, respectively. On March 5, Prime Minister Li Keqiang delivered the 2020 government work report (in Chinese). The NPC Observer blog shared the session agenda and an analysis of two draft amendments to laws that govern the NPC. Pekingnology, an English-language newsletter focusing on China news, explained the mechanisms by which deputies to the annual meetings can submit policy and legislative suggestions, raise questions, and receive responses from government agencies. Here is a list of selected proposals submitted this year. (in Chinese)
SPC President Zhou Qiang submitted a report to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) about a pilot program to expand the use of simplified procedures for small-value civil claims. The pilot has been in progress for a year and aims to reduce courts’ workloads. Zhou’s report summarized the pilot’s achievements, challenges, and next steps. (in Chinese)
Chinese Communist Party officials held a “mobilization and deployment” meeting to formally launch the National Political and Legal Team Education and Rectification Campaign. The campaign was piloted in some locations last year. Its goal is to investigate corruption and disloyalty inside the “political and legal system,” meaning chiefly police, procuratorates, and courts. USALI Research Scholar Chi Yin wrote an essay for USALI Perspectives explaining the campaign and its impact on China’s rule of law.
The SPC released an annual report of the national-level Intellectual Property Court in Beijing and published 10 so-called typical intellectual property protection cases. Check here for the full text of the report in Chinese.
Yuanzhong, a Beijing-based non-profit organization focused on protecting women’s rights, is marking the fifth anniversary of China’s Anti-Domestic Violence Law by releasing an empirical study of 320 court domestic violence cases in Beijing since the law took effect. According to the report, courts rarely find that domestic violence has occurred, and almost never cite the Anti-Domestic Violence Law. However, courts granted protective orders in 80% of cases where such orders were sought. Although the vast majority of domestic violence victims are women, recently a court in Chongqing granted the city's first protective order to a male victim after his wife wounded him twice with a knife.
An article by President Xi Jinping on promoting socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics (in Chinese) was published by Qiushi, the leading theoretical journal of the Communist Party. The article sets out 11 requirements for current and future work to promote rule of law, including upholding party leadership in law-based governance and upholding a people-centered approach.
The SPC announced a series of measures to protect juvenile rights, including establishing an SPC Office of Juvenile Tribunals and releasing seven “typical cases” involving juvenile rights for other courts’ reference. The court said it plans to draft judicial interpretations about the crimes of child rape and molestation in light of the newly passed Criminal Law Amendment XI and amendments to the Laws on Protection of Minors and Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency. Meanwhile, the SPP released its 27th batch of guiding cases, including cases on the application of conditional non-prosecution measures for juvenile offenders. Here is the briefing and explanation from the SPP in response to reporters’ questions about the guiding cases. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said it was taking action to establish a state-level juvenile protection coordinating mechanism to fulfill its obligation under the amended Law on Protection of Minors. (in Chinese)
USALI Affiliated Scholar Chen Yu-Jie published Human Rights in the Chinese Administration of Justice 2020 with The China Collection. The report touches upon five major human rights issues in the Chinese judiciary and highlights the problems of arbitrary punishment, imprisonment, and torture during criminal investigations and persistent suppression of human rights lawyers. (in Chinese)
The SPP replied to an NPC deputy’s suggestion for improving the way procuratorates consider whether to detain criminal suspects before trial. In its reply, the SPP acknowledged that the rate of pretrial detention is too high and said it would employ various measures to bring it down, including using release with electronic bracelets and “non-custodial” QR codes. (in Chinese)
Hong Kong
Hong Kong police charged 47 opposition activists with “conspiracy to commit subversion” in violation of the National Security Law. Those charged were among 53 people originally arrested last month for organizing, planning, and participating in a primary election for the city's democratic opposition parties last July. The chief magistrate granted bail to 15 of the 47, but the Department of Justice immediately filed an appeal. As a result, all 47 remain in custody.
China’s National People’s Congress announced plans to revise Hong Kong’s election system to give the central government greater control over selection of candidates. Pro-Beijing political leaders and legal experts expressed support. The Hong Kong government recently unveiled its own draft law requiring public officials to take loyalty oaths; those failing to take a valid oath or violating the oath could be disqualified from public office for five years. Some human rights scholars criticized the Hong Kong bill’s vague language. The Hong Kong government is expected to submit the bill to the Legislative Council on March 17.
At least two political rights groups, the New School for Democracy and Global Innovation Hub, have quietly moved from Hong Kong to Taiwan since the National Security Law took effect in Hong Kong. The New School for Democracy was founded by 1989 student protest leader Wang Dan. The Global Innovation Hub is a unit of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, a German think tank.The groups expressed concern about the erosion of freedoms in Hong Kong and the safety of their staff since the law took effect.
Japan
An American father and son, Michael and Peter Taylor, were arrested in Japan after being extradited to face charges of helping Carlos Ghosn flee Japan in 2019. At the time, Ghosn was on bail awaiting trial in Tokyo on charges of financial wrongdoing as head of the automaker Nissan. The Taylors allegedly smuggled Ghosn onto a private jet in a musical equipment box. The U.S. Supreme Court last month rejected the Taylors’ attempts to block their extradition. They face a possible three-year prison sentence.
Japanese police are using dash cam evidence against drivers accused of “obstructive driving” under the revised Road Traffic Act, according to the National Police Agency. To convict a driver of obstructive driving, the government has to prove that the driver aimed to obstruct the passage of another vehicle when they “cut off” the other car. Given the difficulty in proving the driver’s intent, an expert says that “dash cam video has become a key resource.”
The Japanese government approved a bill designed to prevent the use of GPS devices for stalking and plans to submit it to the current session of the Diet. The bill would criminalize the installation of GPS monitoring devices without the consent of the targets and the collection of location information through smartphone apps without the targets’ permission.
The Japanese government approved a bill to simplify court procedures for identifying cyberbullies, lowering the hurdles for victims to seek a remedy. Cyberbullying victims currently must go through at least two court proceedings — one against the social media operator and another against the internet service provider — to identify individuals who make hateful posts. The proposed new procedure would allow them to go through just one procedure. It must be approved by the Diet to become law.
A Hong Kong-based renewable energy fund lodged an arbitration claim against the Japanese government over its cut to renewable energy subsidies, marking the first arbitration claim under the Japan-Hong Kong bilateral investment treaty in 24 years.
Koreas
A gay couple in South Korea filed a lawsuit against the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) for reversing a prior decision that allowed one member of the couple to be covered as a spouse under the other’s employer-based health insurance. The plaintiffs argued it is unfair for the NHIS to deny the gay partner benefits because of his gender. The case is viewed as significant because of its potential for setting a precedent for same-sex couples’ rights.
A transgender former soldier who was forcibly discharged from the Korean army was found dead at her home. The army discharged her in January last year, ruling that the loss of male genitals constitutes a Level 3 disability and a forcible discharge is warranted under military law. The woman filed an administrative suit against the army, arguing that its decision was unconstitutional. As the first South Korean active-duty soldier to have sex reassignment surgery while in service, she received widespread support from multiple human rights organizations in South Korea. Her death triggered an outpouring of grief and calls for the South Korean legislature to pass an anti-discrimination bill. The cause of death was not immediately disclosed.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stressed the role of local party officials in achieving national development as he attended a workshop of chief secretaries of city and county committees of the ruling Workers' Party. North Korea is struggling to implement policy goals set forth during January's party congress in the face of global sanctions and the pandemic.
Taiwan
The chief justice of Taiwan’s Supreme Court issued a public apology over a scandal in which nearly 40 judicial workers and prosecutors allegedly had inappropriate ties with a businessman who appeared before the court. The businessman, Chia Her Industrial Co president Weng Mao-chung, was convicted of breaching the Securities and Exchange Act in 2012. The chief justice vowed to regain the public’s respect and trust.
Opponents of a offshore liquefied natural gas project collected enough petition signatures to force a referendum. The LNG project passed a mandatory evaluation by the Environmental Protection Administration in 2018, but opponents say it endangers the survival of 7,000-year-old algae reefs off the coast of Datan in northern Taiwan. Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng agreed that the public is entitled to vote on the issue, but stressed that it is the government’s responsibility to fully meet the country's energy needs.
Freedom House has ranked Taiwan as the second-freest country in Asia with a score of 94 out of 100, putting it behind Japan, which scored 96. The report praised Taiwan's “vibrant and competitive democratic system” for enabling the peaceful handover of power between rival political parties going back to the year 2000 and protecting civil society. Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Joanne Ou (歐江安) said that the report is an affirmation that Taiwan's pursuit of democracy, freedom, and human rights are “universally recognized by the international community, and are worthy of the pride our people.”
Vietnam
The chief justice of Vietnam’s Supreme Court held meetings with his Japanese counterpart and with the Japanese minister of justice while on a visit to Japan. Nguyen Hoa Binh praised the Japanese Supreme Court’s cooperation with Vietnam in developing its legal system, and said Vietnam has learned from Japan with respect to its civil law, penal code, criminal procedure code, law on mediation, and other laws.
The first national forum on “Engaging Men and Boys in the Promotion of Gender Equality and the Elimination of Gender-based Violence” was held in Hanoi with 200 participants from men’s organizations and clubs. Delegates at the forum agreed to establish a network of men and boys to promote gender equality. The forum was organized by UN Women in Vietnam, the Institute for Social Development Studies, and the Network for the Prevention of and Response to Gender Violence, with financial support from the Australian Government.
Amnesty International has accused the Vietnamese government of employing hackers to attack its critics’ internet accounts in an effort to silence them. Following two years of research, Amnesty International reported on February 24 that Ocean Lotus, a shadowy group suspected of working with the Vietnamese government, is “behind a sustained campaign of spyware attacks.” The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected hacking allegations last year when cybersecurity firm FireEye also accused the government of being connected to Ocean Lotus.