June 4-10
China
The Cyberspace Administration of China released for public comment draft regulations on Information Service Management of Proximity Ad Hoc Networks, meaning mobile file-sharing tools such as AirDrop and Bluetooth. The regulations would require service providers to prevent the production, copying, or distribution of “undesirable information” and require real name registration by users. Activists fear the rules will hinder their ability to share information and mobilize people.
The Supreme People’s Court (SPC) issued Provisions on Responding to Requests for Instructions on the Application of Law, which take effect September 1, 2023. The provisions clarify when provincial high courts may seek instructions from the SPC (generally lack of clarity in the law) and make clear that high courts may not ask for instruction on determining the facts of a case.
The SPC, Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) and Ministry of Public Security (MPS) published draft Guidance on Punishing Crimes of Cyber Violence for public comment, with a deadline of June 25, 2023. The draft guidance provides for harsher punishment when cyber violence targets minors or people with disabilities, involves organizing online actors, or uses deep fake technology, among other things.
The SPC marked the one-year anniversary of the implementation of the Wetland Protection Law by releasing twelve typical cases involving wetland ecological protection. The cases include criminal, civil, administrative, and public interest cases involving wildlife species protection, invasive alien species prevention and control, and wetlands and mudflats protection.
China's Hainan Airlines announced that female flight attendants who are 10% above the standard weight will be suspended from flying. Those who are 5% to 10% overweight will have to be weighed on site every week for a month. The announcement sparked intense public criticism.
Hong Kong
A five-judge panel at the Court of Final Appeal unanimously overturned the conviction of a reporter who produced a documentary that was critical of the police. Choy Yuk-ling, who also goes by the name Bao Choy, was convicted in 2021 of making false statements to obtain car registration records when she investigated a mysterious 2019 gang attack at a subway station in which 45 people were injured. Ms. Choy used a public database to look up the license plates of vehicles caught on video transporting the suspected attackers, and traced them to community leaders in Hong Kong’s outlying villages. The judges found that Ms. Choy may not have knowingly made a false statement when she accessed the database.
Three High Court judges presiding over the national security trial of 16 leading democrats rejected a defense motion to dismiss subversion charges, ruling that prosecutors presented enough evidence to build a prima facie case. The 16 are among 47 prominent politicians and activists arrested and charged over an unofficial legislative primary election. The subversion charge is based on a theory that the defendants agreed to abuse their powers as lawmakers, if elected, to indiscriminately veto any government budget or public expenditure, compel the chief executive to dissolve the legislature, paralyze government operations, and cause the city’s leader to step down.
The Court of Final Appeal approved an application from the Department of Justice to appeal the acquittal of former Tiananmen vigil activist Chow Hang-tung on charges of inciting others to take part in an unauthorized vigil. The appeal will be heard in November. At issue in the appeal is whether a defendant accused of inciting others to take part in a banned public assembly is allowed to challenge the legality of the government ban in court, and how the court would determine whether such a challenge is valid. Chow has been in custody since September 2021 and faces other national security charges.
Former Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai filed an appeal of the High Court’s rejection of his attempt to challenge a national security committee decision which effectively barred a foreign lawyer from representing him. Last month, Chief Judge of the High Court Jeremy Poon ruled that decisions made by the national security committee could not be challenged. The trial against Lai, adjourned since December last year, is set to resume in September and is expected to last 83 days.
The Department of Justice has asked a court to issue an injunction against performing or disseminating the 2019 protest song Glory to Hong Kong, including online, and to ban 32 videos of the song being performed in various languages on YouTube. Because the song is often described as the “anthem” of the 2019 protests, it appears in online searches for Hong Kong’s official anthem. The organizers of several international sporting events have played it in error when Hong Kong teams have been awarded medals.
Japan
The Fukuoka District Court ruled that Japan’s failure to legalize same-sex marriage is in a “state of unconstitutionality,” but stopped short of fully declaring the current marriage law unconstitutional. The Nagoya District Court used stronger wording, clearly calling it unconstitutional, when it ruled in a similar lawsuit the prior week. The decisions were Nos. 4 and 5 in a series of lawsuits filed by same-sex couples at courts around the country in 2019. Two courts said the current law was unconstitutional, one said it was not, and two, including Fukuoka, took a middle position, saying that the constitution does not require same-sex marriage be legalized but nevertheless finding it problematic.
The Tokyo District Court sentenced former executives of stuffed-toy maker Sun Arrow to suspended prison terms for providing approximately ¥2 million in bribes to a former Tokyo Olympic organizing committee executive.
The Japanese parliament passed a bill to revise an immigration and refugee law that will allow authorities to deport individuals who repeatedly apply for asylum. The previous law did not allow officials to send foreign nationals back to their home countries if they had pending applications for refugee status. Authorities said applicants abused the system by applying multiple times in order to remain in Japan. The aim of the amendment is to facilitate earlier deportation.
Koreas
South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission will investigate 237 more cases of adoptees who suspect their family origins were falsified to facilitate their adoptions in Europe and the United States in the 1970s and 1980s, during military rule. Adoption agencies registered most adoptees as orphans who had been abandoned, even if they actually had relatives. The commission’s findings could allow adoptees to take legal action against agencies or the government.
The Gwangju District Court ordered the state to pay a total of 3 billion won ($2.3 million) in compensation to 42 plaintiffs, including the heirs of the late poet Kim Nam-ju, for psychological and financial harms they suffered in the 1970s when opposing then-President Park Chung-hee. Kim and other university students opposed Park’s effort to consolidate power by revising the constitution. They were arrested, tortured and convicted of national security law violations. The Gwangju High Court held a retrial and acquitted them in 2021, acknowledging that their confessions were forced.
Taiwan
President Tsai Ing-wen apologized twice in a week over sexual harassment allegations involving prominent members of her Democratic Progressive Party. She asked Prime Minister Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to review and propose reforms to current gender equality laws and establish guidelines for handling sexual harassment complaints. At least 15 women and men have come forward with allegations of sexual assault or improper handling of sexual assault by senior politicians, including seven members of the DPP and members of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party, since an initial whistleblower went public on May 31. Separate harassment allegations have been made against exiled mainland Chinese dissidents Wang Dan and Bei Ling.