September 10-16
China
The Ministry of Education issued provisional measures that impose administrative penalties for unauthorized off-campus tutoring. The measures, which take effect October 15, apply to tutoring offered to preschool children as well as primary and secondary school students. Penalties include warnings, fines, confiscation of illegal income, revocation of licenses, and restrictions on operations. The measures follow a crackdown on China’s $120 billion private tutoring industry in 2021.
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) fined China’s largest academic research database owner, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), US $6.9 million for illegal data collection and handling. The CAC said it found that 14 mobile applications run by CNKI collected data without user consent, gathered personal data that was not essential, failed to clearly disclose how the data would be used, and did not allow users to delete their accounts.
The NPC Observer published an explanation of how the Foreign State Immunity Law, which was approved by the National People’s Congress on September 1, 2023, changes the state immunity doctrine in China. The law takes effect on January 1, 2024 and ends the past practice of absolute immunity from lawsuit in Chinese courts for foreign states.
A senior scientist said China will gradually replace humans with machines in the implementation and execution of its Data Security Law. The scientist, who was commissioned by Beijing to identify data critical to national security, said the crux of the challenge is to translate “key data” into something that can be identified, registered, monitored, and reported by computers. “Key data” refers to non-classified data deemed likely to influence national security. The concept was introduced by the 2017 Cybersecurity Law but neither the law nor subsequent regulations precisely defined it.
Hong Kong
The chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association said that any US sanctions against local judges could harm the city's legal system and prevent the judiciary from recruiting top talent. The US Congressional-Executive Commission on China issued a report in May that urged the US government to sanction 29 Hong Kong judges who have been selected to hear national security cases. Bar Association Chairman Victor Dawes said such sanctions would not improve the rule of law, and urged the business community to promote the city's legal system overseas.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said the government will investigate suspected illegal basements and structural alterations at a luxury housing estate. The issue came to light when torrential rains caused a landslide and forced evacuations from some of the residences. An urban planning think tank reported that by studying satellite images and government planning documents it identified 173 cases of suspected illegal occupation of government land by swimming pools or other facilities at luxury residences.
Four former student leaders from the University of Hong Kong who originally were charged with advocating terrorism pleaded guilty to a less serious charge of incitement to wound with intent. The charges stemmed from a 2021 resolution passed by the university’s student union council expressing sympathy for Leung Kin-fai, who stabbed a uniformed officer and then committed suicide. The students withdrew the resolution after the government and university condemned them for glorifying violence. The former students could be sentenced to up to seven years in prison.
Japan
The Sapporo District Court upheld a decision by the Hokkaido Prefectural government to deny spousal benefits to the same-sex partner of a former employee. The court said that under current civil law, marriage is limited to a man and a woman, and therefore the plaintiff's same-sex partner did not qualify for spousal benefits. In 2021, the same court ruled that Japan’s failure to allow same-sex couples the legal benefits of marriage violates the Constitution’s promise of equality under the law. (See this USALI Perspective essay by Takeharu Kato for analysis of that ruling.)
The Osaka District Court rejected a petition to disclose documents related to a document-tampering scandal connected to the suicide of a Finance Ministry official. Presiding Judge Atsushi Tokuchi ruled that the Finance Ministry's refusal to disclose the existence of the documents was legally justified. The disclosure request came from Masako Akagi, the widow of the deceased official, who said the documents showed that the alleged tampering was ordered by her husband’s superior.
Koreas
The Seoul Central District Court sentenced the vice president of an SK Hynix subcontractor to one year in prison for his involvement in leaking the company's semiconductor technology to China and stealing advanced technology from a Samsung subsidiary. Seven other employees received suspended prison terms or fines for their roles. The court also imposed a fine of 400 million won ($301,072) on the subcontractor company.
South Korean music industry organizations issued a statement demanding that law enforcement investigate and punish persons who post hateful and defamatory comments about pop culture public figures. The statement from the Korea Management Federation, the Korea Entertainment Producers’ Association, the Record Label Industry Association of Korea, and the Korea Music Content Association said that mocking and defamatory posts not only harm the artists involved but also damage the image of Korea’s pop culture and the entertainment industry.
Prosecutors requested prison terms of six and five years, respectively, for former Ulsan Mayor Song Cheol-ho and former Ulsan police chief Hwang Un-ha in connection with an election-meddling scheme. Song, a friend of former President Moon Jae-in, is accused of conspiring with Hwang and three former Moon aides to interfere in the 2018 Ulsan mayoral election. Prosecutors allege that Song asked Hwang to investigate his election rival, thereby undermining the fairness of the election. Hwang is now an opposition lawmaker.
Taiwan
The Central Election Commission said that independent presidential candidates who collect enough signatures to run in the Jan. 13 presidential election may legally drop out of the race before registering their candidacy with the commission, but not after. Independent presidential hopefuls must obtain the signatures of 1.5 percent of eligible voters in the previous presidential election (or 289,667 signatures), to qualify as candidates. Hon Hai Precision Industry co-founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) announced his independent presidential bid last month.
The Legislative Research Bureau said rules regarding the military use of artificial intelligence (AI) can be included in the draft basic law on AI or added to the existing National Defense Act (國防法). Responding to critics who are concerned that use of AI by the military might result in harm to civilians, the bureau said authorities should make the drafting of the AI act more inclusive by consulting with national security and military agencies about risk management.