March 26-April 1
China
The Foreign Ministry confirmed that authorities have detained a Japanese businessman on suspicion of espionage. The man, an employee of the Japanese firm Astellas Pharma, reportedly had worked in China for 20 years and formerly was a senior official of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China. The Japanese government has demanded his release and consular access to him. Since 2015, at least 16 Japanese nationals have been detained on espionage charges. Chinese authorities also recently raided the offices of a US corporate investigations firm, the Mintz Group, and detained five Chinese employees.
The State Administration for Market Regulation has issued four final regulations to implement the amended Anti-Monopoly Law. The regulations, which take effect on April 15, complete part of a process that started when the first amendment of the AML was passed by the legislature in June 2022.
The Supreme People’s Procuratorate released eight typical public interest litigation cases addressing the protection of personal information. Following the enactment of the Personal Information Protection Law in November 2021, which authorizes prosecutors to bring public interest lawsuits in the area of personal information protection, prosecutors nationwide filed more than 6,000 such cases in 2022.
The Communist Party’s Commission for Discipline Inspection, Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and National Supervision Commission jointly released five typical cases involving active bribery crimes. And the Supreme People’s Court released three typical cases involving counterfeit agricultural products.
Hong Kong
The UN Human Rights Office urged Hong Kong authorities to release Albert Ho, one of the city’s best-known rights activists, on the grounds that he urgently needs medical care. Ho, former leader of the Democratic Party and of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, spent nearly a year in jail awaiting trial on charges of inciting subversion. He was released under strict conditions last August, but the national security police took him back into custody last week for allegedly violating the bail terms.
A group of transgender people held a small protest against the government’s failure to change the gender indicated on their identity documents. A court ruled in February that transgender persons should not be required to undergo a full sex reassignment operation in order to change the gender marker on their identity cards. Henry Tse, founder of the group Transgender Equality Hong Kong, said the government is using administrative tactics to delay complying with the court’s decision.
Hong Kong's first authorized protest since Covid restrictions were lifted took place under unprecedentedly strict rules. About 80 protesters had to wear numbered badges around their necks and walk in a cordoned-off line amid a heavy police presence. They were demonstrating against a proposed land reclamation and rubbish processing project.
A man who pleaded guilty to throwing flammable objects at the official residence of Hong Kong’s chief executive in 2021 was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison. Wong Chun-yin threw gas tanks and other flammable objects at Government House, causing some vegetation about 50 meters away from the building to catch fire.
Japan
LGBTQ activists held a Pride 7 Summit in Tokyo and urged Japan's government to enact an anti-discrimination law before it hosts a G-7 summit in May. Participants at the summit also called on the G-7 to protect LGBTQ rights and prohibit discrimination. Japan is the only G-7 country that does not recognize same-sex marriage or provide other equal rights protections for LGBTQ people.
Local governments in Japan confirmed 3,085 cases of abuse of people with disabilities during the 2021 fiscal year, 284 more than in the previous year. Persons with intellectual disabilities made up the largest group of victims. The increase reflects rising public awareness about the the rights of people with disabilities.
Koreas
South Korean prosecutors arrested a former military commander, Cho Hyun-chun, upon his return to the country for the first time in more than five years. Cho, former head of the now-defunct Defense Security Command, is accused of abuse of authority and political meddling. He allegedly directed the development of a plan in 2017 to declare martial law and use force to suppress protesters opposed to then-President Park Geun-hye.
South Korea’s Constitutional Court gave the National Assembly until May 31, 2025 to replace a family registration law that effectively bars biological fathers from registering the birth of children that result from extramarital relations with married women. The duty to register such births lies with the mother, but the court said that women are currently not likely to take that step due to fear that the affair will be discovered. The court said the effect is to deprive the children of their basic right to be registered promptly.
The Constitutional Court ruled that it is illegal to exclude the overseas relatives of foreigners killed while working on Korean construction sites from benefiting from a construction workers mutual aid fund. The ruling came in the case of a Vietnamese national who applied for benefits after her husband died at a tunnel construction site in Korea. The court said a law that denied her benefits was discriminatory and unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court upheld a lower court's decision not to punish an Iranian national charged with obtaining a visa based on a false document. The court cited Article 31 of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which says that penalties should not be imposed on refugees for illegal entry.
Taiwan
The Ministry of Justice announced plans to outlaw corporal punishment at home by amending Civil Code Article 1085, which allows parents to punish their children. The proposed amendment also would ban parents from inflicting “mental violence” on children, basing its definition on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The ministry is seeking feedback from the public and other government departments. The National Human Rights Commission said it would be a landmark in upholding children’s human rights.
Taiwan’s Supreme Court adopted the concept of “substantial influence” as a key element of the crime of corruption. The ruling resolved a long-standing controversy over whether “legal power” or “substantial influence” should be applied in determining corruption. The ruling is in line with the UN Convention against Corruption.