October 1-7
China
Chinese lawyer and writer Yang Maodong (杨茂东, better known as Guo Feixiong (郭飞雄), is seriously ill five months into an eight-year prison term after being convicted of incitement to subvert state power, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). HRW said that Yang, 57, went on a hunger strike around August and lost nearly half his body weight. Yang defended Falun Gong petitioners, promoted asset disclosure by officials, and was active in the informal “New Citizens Movement.” He was imprisoned twice between 2006 and 2019 for a total of 11 years.
The Cyberspace Administration of China released a draft regulation on regulating and promoting cross-border data flows (规范和促进数据跨境流动规定) and invited public comment until Oct. 15, 2023. An English translation of the draft is available at China Law Translate.
Hong Kong
Police arrested six more suspects in connection with alleged fraud at the Dubai-based cryptocurrency trading platform JPEX, bringing to 26 the total number of persons taken into custody. The latest arrests include the CEO and an ex-director of CryptoPARD, a virtual asset money changer. Meanwhile, JPEX began carrying out a plan to convert stored user assets into dividend-bearing shares to prevent users from withdrawing their assets. Hong Kong authorities began investigating JPEX after the Securities and Futures Commission issued a statement on Sept. 13 warning that online influencers and virtual asset money changers were making false or misleading statements about JPEX having applied for a virtual asset trading platform license in Hong Kong.
A court sentenced a clerk to four months in prison for violating the colonial-era sedition law by importing 18 copies of children’s books that the government considers seditious. The series of six Chinese-language books features a village of sheep trying to defend themselves against wolves. The government says the books incite hatred against the Hong Kong and Chinese governments. The five creators of the books were sentenced to nineteen months in prison in 2022.
Hong Kong customs arrested four persons, including the owner of a money exchange company and two siblings, on suspicion of laundering HK $600 million (US $76.6 million) over two and a half years.
Japan
Tokyo-based Johnny & Associates, a prominent talent agency that has acknowledged founder Johnny Kitagawa sexually assaulted hundreds of boys over half a century, changed its name to Smile-Up and said it would compensate abuse victims. An outside investigative committee set up by the agency said that as of Sept. 30, it had received reports of abuse from 478 persons, with 325 of them seeking compensation. Kitagawa died in 2019 without ever facing charges.
Japan began implementing a controversial new “qualified invoice system“ that requires businesses to issue invoices showing the rate and amount of tax charged for every sale. Many small-scale and family-run businesses are hesitating to join the new system. The system also requires revealing the seller’s identity and registration number, causing concern among VTubers, manga artists, and other creatives and freelancers who prefer anonymity.
The Justice Ministry is considering revising the Civil Code to allow people to write their wills on computers. The Civil Code currently requires that wills be either notarized or entirely handwritten and affixed with the testator’s seal. Notaries are expensive, and writing a will by hand is burdensome. The ministry plans to establish an expert panel to explore the use of electronic signatures to verify identity.
The Supreme Court upheld Japan’s ban on dual nationality. It dismissed an appeal brought by eight former Japanese citizens, now living in Europe and with European citizenship, who argued that stripping them of their Japanese citizenship violates the constitution’s right to pursue happiness and equality under the law. The Tokyo District Court rejected their claim in 2021 on the grounds that dual citizenship can produce conflicts in rights and duties between countries.
Koreas
For the fourth time, the South Korean Constitutional Court upheld the country’s male-only conscription system. Five male plaintiffs argued that the Military Service Act violates the constitutional right of equality. The court opined, however, that South Korea’s declining birth rate may lead the country to consider conscripting both men and women or moving to a voluntary military system over the long term.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged South Korean legislators to reconsider the Protected Birth Bill, which it said will promote anonymous births and adoption or orphanage care as solutions to unregistered births and unwanted pregnancies. According to the HRW, the bill, set for a National Assembly vote on Oct. 25, fails to address the underlying reasons for unregistered births, including lack of access to safe abortions and sexuality education, inadequate support services for pregnant women and girls, and stigma associated with single motherhood.
The National Assembly voted to allow police to disclose the mug shots and personal information of criminal suspects in serious crimes. Under the previous law, police could release photos of criminal suspects but needed the suspects’ permission to release their mug shots. As a result, police often released outdated ID photos, resulting in complaints from the public that the photos were useless.
Taiwan
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office charged the founder and two members of the tiny Taiwan People’s Communist Party with collaborating with the Chinese Communist Party in an effort to influence Taiwan’s 2024 elections, in violation of the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法). Party founder and chairman Lin Te-wang (林德旺), once a ranking member of the Kuomintang (KMT) or Nationalist Party, and members Cheng Chien-hsin (鄭建炘) and Yu Sheng-hung (余聲洪), denied the charges.
Taiwan is investigating four local companies suspected of helping China's Huawei Technologies to build semiconductor facilities. Cleanroom constructor L&K Engineering, semiconductor material reseller Topco Scientific, construction firm United Integrated Services, and chemical supplier Cica-Huntek are under scrutiny. Authorities want to know if they exported sensitive technologies or products to Huawei.
A junior KMT employee, Hsu Che-pin, was placed in pretrial detention for allegedly aiding online commentator Lin Yu-hong in a hoax. Lin had claimed that he received death threats after criticizing the government, but later confessed to fabricating the threats. He said that Hsu, a social media community manager for the KMT, posted the fake threats. The KMT has fired Hsu.