March 3-9
China
A spokesman for the National People’s Congress said Premier Li Qiang will not hold a press conference after the legislature’s annual plenary meeting, the first time that a premier will not meet the press after the NPC since 1992. The annual post-plenum press conference for domestic and international media had been virtually the only opportunity for journalists to interact with the premier, albeit in a staged fashion. The spokesman said Li will not give post-plenum press conferences for the duration of his five-year term, barring special circumstances. Under the leadership of Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping, the role of premier has diminished.
Premier Li Qiang delivered his first government work report at the opening of the annual meeting of the full National People’s Congress, and set an economic growth target of about 5%. The heads of the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate delivered their own annual reports. NPC Chairman Zhao Leiji said the legislature plans in 2024 to revise the National Defense Education Law and Cybersecurity Law, and approve laws on emergency management, energy, nuclear energy, and hazardous chemicals safety.
Hong Kong
The Legislative Council began debating a draft national security law that will redefine or create the crimes of treason, theft of state secrets, espionage, sabotage, sedition, and external interference. Chief Executive John Lee, formerly the city’s police chief, urged the body to pass the bill “at full speed,” and several legislators said they expect to approve the draft before mid-April. In Beijing, where the National People’s Congress is meeting, spokesman Lou Qinjian said the NPC is closely monitoring and fully supports the legislative process.
Secretary for Justice Paul Lam said that suggestions offered during a month-long public consultation period on the draft security law included banning some popular social media platforms and messaging apps, including Facebook, YouTube, Telegram, and Signal. Lam said the government had no plan to ban any platforms or apps.
The Hong Kong government accused former legislator Ted Hui of seeking to intimidate judicial personnel and police officers by posting their names online and calling for foreign sanctions against them. Hui, who now lives in Australia, posted on Facebook the names of judges, prosecutors, government-appointed lawyers, and police officers involved in four cases and court orders against him. Hui is among 13 self-exiled activists being sought by Hong Kong’s national security police.
The Court of Appeal said proof of intention to incite violence is not necessary for a sedition conviction. It upheld the conviction and 40-month prison sentence of Tam Tak-chi, who was convicted in 2022 of eleven charges in connection with the 2019 protests, including seven counts of uttering seditious words. Tam was the first person tried under the colonial-era sedition law since 1997.
The Court of Final Appeal (CFA) allowed seven prominent pro-democracy activists to appeal their convictions for participating in an unauthorized protest march on August 18, 2019. Former Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai and former legislators Martin Lee, Lee Cheuk-yan, Margaret Ng, Leung Kwok-hung, Cyd Ho, and Albert Ho were originally convicted of both organizing and participating in the march, which drew an estimated 1.7 million participants. Their conviction on the organizing charge was overturned last year, and the CFA rejected the prosecution’s application to appeal that decision.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption charged five persons in an alleged scheme to stage crimes so that two detainees at the Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre could tip off the police and earn reduced sentences. The two inmates and their family members allegedly paid a total of HK$1.5 million in exchange for the arrangements.
Japan
Six couples filed lawsuits in the Tokyo and Sapphoro District Courts in an effort to have the law requiring married couples to adopt the same family names be declared unconstitutional. The Supreme Court's Grand Bench has twice ruled that the requirement is constitutional, most recently in 2021. However, the reform now has the support of business leaders, some of whom met with a senior vice minister of justice and presented a petition with about 1,000 signatures. Several business lobbies, including the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) and Japan Association of Corporate Executives, support such a reform.
The Oita District Court decided to allow a 30-year-old nuclear reactor operated by Shikoku Electric Power to continue operating. Local residents have sought its closure for years. A judge in the Hiroshima High Court issued a temporary injunction in 2020 that prevented the Ikata No. 3 nuclear reactor from operating, but another judge in the same court lifted the injunction in 2021.
The Japanese Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the governor of Okinawa against a ruling that has allowed construction to begin on the new site of the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. Okinawa Prefecture has long opposed efforts to relocate the Marine station from a densely populated neighborhood to a coastal area where landfill is required.
The Cabinet approved a draft bill that would expand the role of the Japan Legal Support Center to include services for the victims of sex crimes and the families of murder victims who would struggle to pay legal fees on their own. The bill must be approved by the parliament.
The government advanced its plan to impose strict asset reporting requirements on the Japan branch of the Unification Church while it seeks a court order to dissolve the organization. The government wants to ensure the church does not move assets out of the reach of claimants who say the group’s fundraising practices harmed them.
Koreas
The South Korean Constitutional Court unanimously ruled that a law capping the work week at 52 hours is constitutional because protecting the health and safety of workers is more important than the infringement to freedom of contract caused by the cap. The 2018 Labor Standards Act restricts the normal work day and work week to eight and 40 hours, respectively, and allows up to 12 “extended” work hours per week.
The government pressed ahead with its plan to suspend the licenses of striking doctors who failed to return to work by February 29. Nearly 9,000 of the country’s 13,000 medical interns and residents began striking on February 20 to protest a government plan to increase medical school admissions, and most ignored the deadline to return. The government also said it would improve junior doctors’ salaries and work conditions.
The National Office of Investigation said police have developed a deepfake detection tool that has an 80 percent probability of detecting whether a video is authentic. Deepfakes can be a source of fake news, fraud, and defamation.
The South Korean Fair Trade Commission accused Meta Platforms Inc. of failing to take adequate measures to protect local consumers on Facebook Marketplace and Instagram Marketplace. South Korea’s e-commerce law requires platform operators to provide sellers’ information to consumers and establish mechanisms to address consumers’ complaints. The Yonhap News Agency quoted unidentified sources as saying that the commission concluded an investigation into Meta and is taking steps to penalize it.
Taiwan
Amendments to the Gender Equity Education Act, Gender Equality in Employment Act, and Sexual Harassment Prevention Act, passed last year in response to #MeToo in Taiwan, take effect on March 8, International Women's Day. The amendments are intended to make it easier for persons who experience sexual harassment to file reports and receive support, and create new obligations for schools and companies with more than 30 employees. Meanwhile, women's groups and activists called for further improvements.
Labor Minister Hsu Ming-Chun apologized for her comments about Indian workers whom the government wants to recruit to address Taiwan’s labor shortage. The government signed an MOU with India on February 16 to bolster people-to-people exchanges, including labor recruitment. On a local television program, Hsu said that her ministry will first recruit from India’s northeastern states because “their skin color and dietary habits are closer to ours” and the workers are Christian. The Labor Ministry and Foreign Ministry said Hsu’s remarks were inappropriate and inaccurate and that workers of all ethnic backgrounds would be welcomed.