December 24-January 6
China
The National People’s Congress released drafts of seven proposed laws or revisions to existing laws. Public comments may be submitted through January 27, 2024. They are: the State Council Organic Law (国务院组织法), the Emergency Response and Management Law (突发事件应对管理法), Rural Collective Economic Organizations Law (农村集体经济组织法), amendment to the Law on the Oversight by the Standing Committees of People’s Congresses at All Levels (各级人民代表大会常务委员会监督法), revision to the Border Health and Quarantine Law (国境卫生检疫法), revision to the Mineral Resources Law (矿产资源法), and Tariff Law [关税法].
Proposed revisions to the 2007 Emergency Response and Management Law require the government to provide timely information about emergencies and to establish a “news interviewing and reporting system” for such events. The revisions also provide: “No institution or individual shall fabricate or spread false information about emergencies on purpose.” Experts expressed concern the law will be used to further constrain reporting about emergencies and disasters.
The National People’s Congress Standing Committee approved guidelines for its Legislative Affairs Commission (LAC) to follow when reviewing the constitutionality and legality of legislation, administrative regulations, judicial interpretations, and normative documents at all levels of government. The NPC has been taking steps in recent years to activate its long dormant legality review powers. Among other things, the new guidelines clarify that the LAC may pro-actively initiate review of a particular law or rule, without waiting for a challenge to be filed. When conducting its review, the LAC should consider not only the provisions and spirit of the constitution, but also major Chinese Communist Party decisions, the “direction of major national reforms,” and the principle of proportionality.
China sanctioned a US research company and two analysts who have reported about human rights abuses committed against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. The Foreign Ministry said that Los Angeles-based research and data analytics firm Kharon, its director of investigations, Edmund Xu, and Nicole Morgret, a human rights analyst at the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, are barred from traveling to China. Any assets they may have in China will be frozen and persons in China are prohibited from cooperating with them. The ministry said the sanctions were imposed in response to the recent US State Department annual report on human-rights conditions in Xinjiang.
Hong Kong
In their opening arguments at the trial of former Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai, prosecutors alleged that Lai used his newspaper to “promote hatred” of Chinese and Hong Kong authorities. They cited articles published in Apple Daily “under the direction and instruction” of Lai, as well as columns that Lai wrote for his own and other newspapers. They played video from episodes of “Live Chat with Jimmy Lai,” in which he and guests discussed US policies toward China and Hong Kong, and argued these were instances of Lai promoting international sanctions and colluding with foreign elements. Lai, 76, pleaded not guilty on January 2 to two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and one count of conspiring to publish seditious materials.
Tony Chung, the former convener of now-disbanded pro-independence group Studentlocalism, said he was seeking political asylum in the UK after completing a prison term for inciting secession and money laundering. Chung said that since his release from prison last June, he had been questioned by national security police every two to four weeks and was offered money if he would become an informant.
A court sentenced three youths to up to six years in prison for their roles in a foiled 2021 plot to bomb court buildings and government offices. The prosecution said they had planned to make improvised explosives and place them in public facilities including government offices, police stations, cross harbor tunnels, and court buildings between April 1 and 5 July 2021. Four others involved in the plan were sentenced in May, including three minors.
Japan
The Tokyo High Court ruled that only the operator of the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant must pay damages to evacuees, relieving the government of responsibility. The court also slashed in half the amount of damages to be paid by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, or TEPCO. The Tokyo District Court in 2018 had held both the government and TEPCO accountable for failing to take safety precautions ahead of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami that destroyed the nuclear power plant’s reactors.
Koreas
An unidentified assailant stabbed Lee Jae-myung, head of the opposition Democratic Party, in the neck as he attended a political event in Busan. Lee underwent surgery for a damaged jugular vein and was reported to be recovering. A suspect was later arrested. His motive was not immediately known. The attack comes three months before South Korea’s general elections.
The South Korean Supreme Court ordered two Japanese companies, Hitachi Zosen Corp. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, to compensate Korean victims of forced labor during World War II, upholding lower court decisions. It was the Supreme Court’s second such ruling in the space of a week in December, reflecting a process in which small groups of plaintiffs pursue their respective claims through separate lawsuits. Mitsubishi was also a defendant in the earlier case, along with Nippon Steel Corp. The Japanese government issued protests in response to both rulings.
Taiwan
The Ministry of Justice denied accusations that it is unwilling to carry out death sentences, saying that all 37 death row inmates are applying for legal remedies from the Constitutional Court and therefore are entitled to a stay of execution. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate and Broadcasting Corp of China Chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) has accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of President Tsai Ing-wen of not daring to carry out executions or to abolish the death penalty. Only two people have been executed since she took office in 2016.
Taiwan’s government is considering joining the International Criminal Court, in part to increase deterrence of a Chinese attack or invasion. The step was recommended last year by an independent annual review of Taiwan’s human rights performance, and has since been discussed in Taiwan’s judicial and legal circles. Some say it would allow the court to take action against Chinese leader Xi Jinping under international law if he ordered or oversaw acts of war or war crimes against Taiwan.
Prosecutors questioned four persons and detained one on suspicion of spreading fake presidential polls about the January 13, 2024 election through news outlets and social media platforms. They said the man who was detained, surnamed Hsu, was a chief consultant of a new residents association, a community organization for newcomers to Taiwan. He is suspected of violating election and anti-infiltration laws. Meanwhile, the Taiwan FactCheck Center said disinformation about a possible cross-Strait conflict has become prevalent ahead of the election. False reports include claims that a draft has begun.